The CBI today formally took over investigation into the 2004 fake encounter killing of Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan and three others in Gujrat. It was done following directions from the Gujarat High Court. A team of CBI officials headed by IG V V Laxminarayan, was handed over the case papers and other documents related to the case in Amedabad by officials of the high court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). MR. Laxminarayan heads the Hyderabad Zone of the agency.

On December 1st last year, the high court handed over to the CBI further probe into the incident .On June 15th 2004 Ishrat (19) and Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were shot dead by an Ahmedabad Crime Branch team. Investigation by SIT, which was set up to ascertain genuineness of the police action, had concluded that it was a staged killing and death of the four had taken place before the encounter.