Ishrat Jahan case: Gujarat HC satisfied with CBI probe

The Gujarat high court on Friday expressed satisfaction about the progress made by Central Bureau of Investigation in the investigation of Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, and ordered it to submit the next progress report by May 9.

The CBI, ordered by the HC to take over the probe in December 2011, on Thursday submitted a progress report in a sealed cover.

On Friday, the division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari said the pace and direction of the probe were satisfactory. "It looks like in past two months CBI has made a substantial progress," the judges said.

At the last hearing in January, when CBI submitted its first report, the court wasn't much happy and decided to monitor the probe.

Subsequently, CBI arrested four Gujarat police officers: IPS officer Girish Singhal, deputy superintendent of police Tarun Barot, inspector Bharat Patel and retired deputy superintendent of police J G Parmar.

Ishrat Jahan, who hailed from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Zeeshan Johar and Amjadali Rana were killed by the Gujarat police in an encounter on June 15, 2004 on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.