The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Madhya Pradesh tribal affairs minister Vijay Shah for his controversial remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi as it transferred to itself the suo motu proceedings initiated by the high court.

The apex court sought a status report from the special investigation team probing the allegations against the BJP leader.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta passed the order while taking on record an interim status report submitted by the deputy inspector-general of police, Special Armed Forces (Bhopal). The apex court had on May 19 directed the setting up of an SIT of three senior IPS officers who do not hail from the state to probe the allegations against Shah.

The Supreme Court noted that the SIT had visited Raikunda on May 21 and conducted a spot investigation.

"The YouTube video, original video footage of the function and transcript of the petitioner’s speech were perused by the SIT. A Hindi transcript of the speech was prepared by the SIT. The mobile phone seized was sent to CFSL (Central Forensic Science Laboratory), Bhopal, and the statements of seven witnesses have been recorded so far," the bench said.

The court posted the hearing to July 28, saying the investigation was still in its initial stage and needed more time.

The interim directions passed on May 19, including the stay of Shah's arrest, stand extended, it said.

"In view of the fact that this court is seized of the matter, we request the high court to close the proceedings pending before it," the court said.