A special CBI court on Friday found all seven accused including ex BJP MP Dinu Bogha Solanki guilty of killing RTI activist Amit Jethva. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on July 11.
The special judge KM Dave found Solanki guilty for conspiracy and murder along with his nephew Shiva Solanki.
Jethva was shot dead on July 20, 2010, by two assailants right outside Gujarat High Court.
Through RTI replies, Jethva was exposing alleged illegal mining activities in Gir forest by former Junagadh parliamentarian Solanki. Initially, the murder case was investigated by Ahmedabad Detection Crime Branch (DCB) which charge-sheeted six persons — Shiva Solanki ( nephew of Dinu Solanki), Shailesh Pandya, Bahadursinh Vadher, Panchan G Desai, Sanjay Chauhan and Udaji Thakore. The DCB gave clean chit to Solanki against which Jethva’s father Bhikhabhai moved the High Court.
The High Court ordered CBI investigation and Solanki was arrested in 2013 from Delhi. He was charge-sheeted in the murder case for conspiracy among other charges. The CBI accused Solanki as the main conspirator. Both the probes — one by the DCB and the other by the CBI — were clubbed together, and the central probe agency was asked to conduct the murder trial.
The trial of Amit Jethva case has seen several twists. When the trial began, the witnesses started turning hostile. Many complained of threats. Jethva’s father moved the High Court again seeking a fresh trial on the ground that 105 witnesses out of a total of 195 turned hostile allegedly under the pressure from the BJP leader. By then, the trial had concluded.
The high court ordered a fresh trial and changed the then special judge who was presiding over the case. The accused moved Supreme Court set aside high court's order and directed the CBI to recall 26 key witnesses for fresh examination.
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