Guwahati, June 21: Gauhati High Court today granted six more months to the CBI to complete its probe into last year's Dimapur lynching case.

A division bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice Ajit Singh and Justice Suman Shyam, passed the order today after hearing an interlocutory application (civil) 467/2016 filed by the bureau seeking more time to file the final case report.

The CBI filed the application after it missed the June 9 deadline set by the court to complete the investigation.

In the application, it stated that investigation requires questioning and interrogation of many witnesses and accused persons and especially those from remote areas were yet to be interrogated many accused persons were yet to be identified. "Expert opinion on electronic evidence collected during investigation remains to be obtained, which is a time-consuming process and more evidence is to be gathered to prove the allegations against the accused persons," it said.

Given the circumstances, the CBI prayed for another six months beyond June 9 to complete the investigation and submit the final report.

On September 7 last year, the high court, based on two PILs filed by Rajib Kalita and Nilim Dutta, had ordered CBI inquiry into the lynching of rape accused Syed Farid Khan, 35, by a mob that broke into Dimapur Central Jail on March 5.

"So far, we are satisfied with the progress of investigation of the cases taken up by the CBI and it is expected that all the guilty persons will be punished in accordance with law," Kalita's counsel Bhaskar Dev Konwar said today.

According to the high court direction, the CBI registered four cases in connection with the lynching and started its investigation after collecting the case records from Nagaland police on December 10 last year. The CBI officials have inspected the crime scenes, collected electronic evidence, examined more than 40 witnesses and interrogated 29 accused persons.

The Nagaland cabinet had on March 18 last year recommended a CBI inquiry into the incident after several organisations demanded a probe by the agency. As there was no response from the Centre on the recommendation, the high court finally passed the order in September last year.

The Nagaland police have arrested 56 people and published a lookout notice for 32 people.

Jamal Uddin Khan, elder brother of Syed Farid, said today: "My brother was innocent. A conspiracy was hatched against him and he was murdered mercilessly. We hope the truth will come out and all the culprits will be punished. I have served in the Indian Army and I have full faith in the legal system."

Additional reporting by Nilotpal Bhattacharjee in Silchar