Ex-BJP MP Dinu Solanki, six others sentenced to life in RTI activist murder case

Source: thehindu.com

Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Dinu Solanki and six others were on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the brutal killing of a Right to Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa in 2010. The special Central Bureau of Investigation court had held the seven accused, including Mr. Solanki, guilty in the murder case on July 6, and had reserved the pronouncement on the quantum of sentence.

The special CBI court has found all the accused — Dinu Solanki, his nephew Shiva Solanki, Sanjay Chauhan, Shailesh Pandya, Pachan Desai, Udaji Thakore and police constable Bahadursinh Vader — guilty under Section 302 (murder), Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, and Section 25(1) of the Arms Act for illegal possession of arms or ammunition.

The court held that the murder was a premeditated act and also convicted the accused for criminal conspiracy. Special CBI judge K.M. Dave in his verdict ordered proceedings against all the 105 witnesses who turned hostile during the trial.

Judge Dave imposed a total penalty of ₹59,25,000 on all convicts. Out of the total penalty, the court held that ₹11 lakh shall be dedicated to the family of the murdered. Accordingly, a fixed deposit of ₹5 lakh in a nationalised bank in the name of Jethwa’s wife and ₹3 lakh each for two of Jethwa’s young sons have been provided.

Earlier on July 6, the court had found Solanki, his nephew Shiva Solanki, and five others, guilty of murdering RTI activist Amit Jethwa in 2010.

In July 2010, Jethwa was killed outside the Gujarat High Court as he was fighting against illegal mining activities in and around the Gir forest, abode of Asiatic lions in Gujarat, where Solanki and his extended family have interests in limestone mining. Jethwa had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court against illegal mining in the Gir forest region.

“The court today has held seven people including the mining mafia and former BJP parliamentarian Dinu Solanki guilty in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa,” said noted lawyer Anand Yagnik, who has been fighting the case on behalf of Bhikhabhai Jethwa, father of the deceased.

The Gujarat High Court handed over the case to the central agency after the Gujarat police had given a clean chit to the then parliamentarian Solanki.

After the case was given to the federal agency, Solanki was arrested in 2013 from Delhi and was charge-sheeted in the murder case. The CBI had accused Solanki as the main conspirator in the case.

In May 2016, the court had framed charges of murder and criminal conspiracy against Solanki and others after the central agency had charge-sheeted them.