Ahmedabad: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has obtained custody till May 28 of four Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agents, nabbed by the city crime branch on April 3, for interrogation in connection with the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya.

The ISI agents--Mohammed Pervez Sheikh, Rehan Abdul Majid Punthawala, Mohammed Riyaz alias Goru and Mohammed Yunus Sareshwala, who are alleged to be associated with Hyderabad-based sharpshooter Asghar Ali, who allegedly pumped five bullets into Pandya, when the latter was going for his morning walk on March 26 at Law Garden.

All four, who were in judicial custody, were remanded to CBI custody till May 28 by a metropolitan court on May 21 after the investigating agency obtained a transfer warrant for their custody.

The CBI counsel pleaded the court to grant 14 days' remand to the accused as "investigation till now has revealed that the conspiracy to kill Pandya had deep roots and there are links of these accused with persons stationed in other countries."

The counsel also submitted "the absconders, about whose location the CBI has found vital clues, had sent messages to the four accused in code words and only the latter had exclusive knowledge of these codes."

"Without their help it will be difficult to crack the codes and know the location and identity of absconders/other conspirators", the counsel told the court.

PTI