Ahmedabad, Nov 19 (IANS) A contempt petition was filed against the Gujarat government in the high court here Friday for its failure to issue a notification to set up a special investigation team (SIT) in the Ishrat Jahan staged shootout case.

The petition has been filed by Gopinath Pillai, father of Pranesh Pillai alias Javed.

Javed was one of four people, including Mumbai college girl Ishrat, who were killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004 by a team of the police crime branch. It was subsequently made out that the four were part of a Laskhar-e-Taiba outfit out to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The high court on Sep 24 constituted the SIT to probe the case, led by Delhi joint police commissioner Karnail Singh and including two Gujarat cadre police officers, Mohan Jha and Satish Verma.

The court also directed the government to provide necessary infrastructure and facilities to the new SIT, which was directed to submit its report within three months. The Gujarat government appealed against the decision before the Supreme Court, which rejected its plea Nov 12.

But the notification to set up the SIT has still not been issued.