Supreme Court stays SIT probe into Ishrat case

The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the Gujarat government from entrusting the Ishrat Jahan encounter case to the Special Investigation Team headed by former Central Bureau of Investigation director R K Raghavan which is probing the post-Godhra communal riots in the state.

A bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy passed the order on an application moved by advocate Brinda Grover, appearing for Shamina Kausar, mother of the deceased, challenging the Gujarat high court's decision to entrust the probe into the killings to the SIT.

The high court had, on a plea by Shamima earlier, decided to entrust the case of the sensational killings of the teenager and three others to the SIT on the basis of the findings of magistrate S P Tamang that it was a fake encounter and a cold-blooded murder.

The family of the deceased is, however, opposed to any probe by the SIT and, instead, wants the case to be investigated by the CBI on the lines of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.