The Supreme Court on Monday directed the CBI to complete its probe  by June 3 into the alleged murder of 11 girls at a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and asked the agency to file a status report.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta said that since the matter was “urgent”, it would be heard by a vacation bench on June 3.

“Office to list the matter on June 3 before the vacation bench of this court. In the meantime, the ongoing investigation, as stated in the reply of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), be completed and all necessary actions in accordance with law, including filing of status report before this court, be also completed,” the bench said in its order.

The bench initially asked the CBI to complete the probe related to alleged 11 murders within two weeks keeping in view the urgency of the matter, but later asked it to do so by June 3.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for CBI, told the court that completion of probe on this aspect “will not be possible” within two weeks.

He said that 11 girls were supposed to have been murdered and as  per CBI’s recent affidavit filed in the apex court, it was found that there were a total of 35 girls with identical names who at one time or the other had stayed there.

“11 girls are supposed to have been murdered. In one case, we have recovered bones also,” he told the bench.

In the affidavit, the CBI had told the court that 11 girls were allegedly murdered by key accused Brajesh Thakur and his accomplices and a “bundle of bones” was recovered from a burial ground in Muzaffarpur  shelter home sexual abuse case.

Several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home at Muzaffarpur in Bihar and the issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).