The Gujarat High Court on 29 August 2011 dropped murder charges against the 12 accused in the killing of former minister Haren Pandya eight years ago. The Court while acquitting the 12 persons of the murder charges however upheld the trial court's decision to convict them for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Pandya, who was a former minister of state for home in a BJP government and was once close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was shot dead on 26 March, 2003 when he was out for a morning walk. According to the CBI, Pandya was murdered to avenge the 2002 communal riots.
The division bench of justices D H Waghela and J C Upadhyaya came down heavily on CBI, terming its investigation as botched up and blinkered that left a lot to be desired. Reacting to the verdict, state government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas expressed the hope that CBI will ensure that real culprits are brought to the book and the matter is appropriately taken up at the level of highest court.
The CBI decided to challenge the verdict of Gujarat High Court in Haren Pandya case in the Supreme Court.
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