Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court has given the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Ishrat Jahan case about a month's time to submit the final report.
At the last hearing, High Court had asked the SIT to try and complete the investigation and submit the final report by September 8, giving a finding whether the encounter was fake or not.
However, SIT head R R Verma today sought more time from the division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari, saying that some points in the forensic and medical reports needed clarification.
The bench then asked the SIT to submit the final report on October 5. The next hearing would be on October 7.
SIT had called a team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, for reconstruction of the case and collection of data.
Verma said that though both the institutions had sent reports, the SIT had some queries, and as they were of technical nature, the AIIMS Central Board will take some time to reply.
The High Court directed that AIIMS should give its reply within two weeks.
It also ordered the Gujarat government not to transfer any of the officials associated with the SIT out of Ahmedabad till the investigation was over, after Verma informed that one of the officials had been transferred outside. The court ordered that this officer be transferred back to the city.
High Court also ordered the Central government to depute three police officials, as sought by Verma, to assist the SIT.
Lawyers of Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar and Gopinath Pillai (the father of another victim of the encounter, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai) took objection to the slow pace of the investigation, pointing out that SIT had been conducting probe for the last one year.
But the High Court remarked that investigation was going in the right direction.
Ishrat, along with Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, was killed in a police encounter on June 15, 2004.
Afterwards, city crime branch claimed that the deceased were LeT terrorists who had come to kill Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
The probe in the case is being monitored by the Gujarat High Court, which constituted the SIT last year to probe genuineness of encounter, following petitions by Shamima Kausar and Gopinath Pillai.
At the last hearing, High Court had asked the SIT to try and complete the investigation and submit the final report by September 8, giving a finding whether the encounter was fake or not.
However, SIT head R R Verma today sought more time from the division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari, saying that some points in the forensic and medical reports needed clarification.
The bench then asked the SIT to submit the final report on October 5. The next hearing would be on October 7.
SIT had called a team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, for reconstruction of the case and collection of data.
Verma said that though both the institutions had sent reports, the SIT had some queries, and as they were of technical nature, the AIIMS Central Board will take some time to reply.
The High Court directed that AIIMS should give its reply within two weeks.
It also ordered the Gujarat government not to transfer any of the officials associated with the SIT out of Ahmedabad till the investigation was over, after Verma informed that one of the officials had been transferred outside. The court ordered that this officer be transferred back to the city.
High Court also ordered the Central government to depute three police officials, as sought by Verma, to assist the SIT.
Lawyers of Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar and Gopinath Pillai (the father of another victim of the encounter, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai) took objection to the slow pace of the investigation, pointing out that SIT had been conducting probe for the last one year.
But the High Court remarked that investigation was going in the right direction.
Ishrat, along with Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, was killed in a police encounter on June 15, 2004.
Afterwards, city crime branch claimed that the deceased were LeT terrorists who had come to kill Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
The probe in the case is being monitored by the Gujarat High Court, which constituted the SIT last year to probe genuineness of encounter, following petitions by Shamima Kausar and Gopinath Pillai.
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