Gujarat HC acquits ex-BJP MP, 6 others in RTI activist Amit Jethwa murder case
Ahmedabad (PTI): The Gujarat High Court on Monday allowed the appeals of former BJP MP Dinu Solanki and six others against their conviction by a CBI court in the case of RTI activist Amit Jethwa's murder in 2010.
Observing that the trial court conducted proceedings with a "predetermined notion of conviction," a division bench of Justices AS Supehia and Vimal K Vyas quashed the CBI court's order sentencing Solanki and the six others to life imprisonment.
Jethwa was shot dead outside the high court premises here on July 20, 2010.
Solanki and six others were sentenced to life imprisonment by the CBI court in 2019 and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 15 lakh in the case of murder and criminal conspiracy.
The high court had later suspended the life sentences of Dinu Solanki and his nephew Shiva Solanki, who was also convicted in the case.
"We reiterate that the entire investigation right from the inception of the offence appears to be perfunctory and prejudiced. The prosecution has failed to secure the confidence of the witnesses," the HC bench said in its order.
The trial court on a "preconceived notion of conviction has analysed the evidence divorced from statutes and legal precedence," it said.
The HC said the trial court was duty-bound to apply the law as written, "not as per its instinct".
"Resultantly the common judgment on order of conviction dated July 11, 2019 passed by the special judge, CBI court...whereby the accused have been convicted for the offence under section 302 (murder) and section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are sentenced is quashed and set aside," the HC order said.
The high court further observed that the survival of democracy and the unity and integrity of the nation depends upon the realisation that "constitutional morality is no less essential than constitutional legality."
Jethwa was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010 after he tried to expose illegal mining activities allegedly involving Dinu Solanki by seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
An FIR was then lodged against two unidentified assailants and the investigation was transferred to the state police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which later filed a chargesheet.
In September 2012, the high court handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The CBI arrested Dinu Solanki in November 2013.
On July 11, 2019, Dinu Solanki and his nephew were convicted in the case of Jethwa's murder.
The high court in September 2021 suspended Dinu Solanki's sentence pending his appeal against conviction by the CBI court.
Last year, the HC also suspended the life sentence of his nephew Shiva Solanki and granted him bail pending hearing of his appeal against his conviction by the CBI court.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Phase five LS polls: Rae Bareli, Amethi among 14 UP seats going to polls on Monday
Lucknow(PTI): Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, which will decide the fate of four Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, will be held on Monday.
Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency.
The seats going to polls in the fifth phase are Mohanlalganj (SC), Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Kaisarganj and Gonda.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Rahul Gandhi is in the fray from Rae Bareli, which was represented by his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier.
Over 2.68 crore voters are eligible to exercise their polling rights and 144 candidates are in the fray.
The BJP gave tickets to 11 of its sitting Lok Sabha MPs in this phase, while it had fielded new candidates in Barabanki (SC) seat and Kaisarganj.
In the INDIA bloc, the Congress has fielded K L Sharma from Amethi, Tanuj Punia from Barabanki (SC) and Pradeep Jain 'Aditya' from Jhansi. The Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are in the poll fray on the rest of the seats.
Defence minister Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow. He is pitted against sitting SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow Central.
From the neighbouring constituency of Amethi, Irani is in the poll fray.
In Kaisarganj Lok Sabha seat, the contest is between BJP's Karan Bhushan Singh, son of former MP and ex-president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and SP's Bhagat Ram.
Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, which covers the temple town of Ayodhya, will see a contest between sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh, who is seeking a hat-trick, and Awadhesh Prasad, the SP MLA from Milkipur (SC) assembly constituency in Ayodhya district.
In Hamirpur, the poll contest is between BJP's Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, eyeing a third term, and SP's Ajendra Singh Lodhi.
In Gonda, BJP's Kirti Vardhan Singh, who is eyeing a fifth term, is facing a contest from SP's Shreya Verma.
The main electoral contest in Banda is between RK Singh Patel, who is seeking a third term, and Krishna Devi Shivshankar Patel of the SP.
Vinod Kumar Sonkar, who is eyeing a hat-trick of Lok Sabha wins, will be facing SP's Pushpendra Saroj, son of SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, for Kaushambi (SC) constituency.
Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency.
Bypoll in the Lucknow East assembly constituency was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA Ashutosh Tandon on November 9, 2023.
