SC convict in Haren Pandya’s murder shifted to Gujarat

Source: thehindu.com

Convicted by the Supreme Court in the killing of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya, Mohammed Asghar Ali, a native of Nalgonda, was shifted to Gujarat on Thursday, in-charge Superintendent of Police R. Venkateswarlu said.

He is being moved amid tight security and will be produced before the Gujarat court as per instructions, the police chief said.

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence-trained Ali was lodged in the Warangal central prison for his role in the murder of Miryalaguda’s Dalit youth Perumalla Pranay Kumar.

He was out on conditional bail, and recently, was caught with ganja. Police found out that he was engaged in several land settlements and had not shown any signs of correction.

The kingpin of the 12 accused in Mr. Pandya’s murder in March 2003, Ali and others were acquitted by the Gujarat High Court in August 2011. He was also acquitted by the Nampally Criminal Court in January 2013, in a case of helping a murder accused escape.

Ali’s name cropped up in September 2017 in the killing of Pranay Kumar, for which he had struck a ₹1 crore deal.

On July 5, 2019, the SC, by allowing the appeals of the Central Bureau of Investigation, set aside the Gujarat High Court’s 2011 judgment acquitting all 12. They were earlier booked for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and various provisions under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.