"Fake encounters", or "encounter killings" are extrajudicial executions, usually of people in custody, generally staged to appear as though they occurred in gun battles. The best known examples are the killings of Ishrat Jahan, and of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi. Amnesty reported 31 extrajudicial killings by police officers in Gujarat between 2002 and 2006. In 2013, more than a dozen senior police officers were in jail or facing prosecution in connection with these killings, most famously D. G. Vanzara.
The Gujarat state is directly implicated in many fake encounters. There is evidence of frequent contact between top BJP officials, most notably Amit Shah, and police officers who carried out the killings around the time of the killings. D. G. Vanzara, has claimed that the officers involved were implementing state government policy.
References: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty.