Apex court lets off Gujarat minister in murder case

In a big relief to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate ahead of Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court on Thursday let off Babubhai Bokhiria, a minister in Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government. 

A bench of Justices C K Prasad and P C Ghose set aside the Gujarat High Court order of 2008 wherein the court had refused to quash summons issued against him.

After going through the factual matrix, the court said, “no evidence has at all come during the trial which shows even a prima facie complicity of the appellant in the crime.”

The apex court disregarded the HC order which had taken into consideration a note left by the deceased Mulubhai Gigabhai Modhvadiya, apprehending threat to his life from the petitioner.

“Except the apprehension expressed by the deceased, the statement made by him (deceased) does not relate to the cause of his death or to any circumstance of the transaction which resulted in his death,” the court said.