12 men accused of killing former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in 2003 were convicted by the Supreme Court on Friday, July 5. The court dismissed the PIL filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which sought fresh court-monitored probe into the killing.
Imposing a ban of Rs 50,000 on CPIL for filing the PIL, a bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, said that no further petition would be entertained in the case.
The court allowed the appeals of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Gujarat government questioning the Gujarat High Court order, which absolved the convicts of murder charges in the case. The CBI had termed the acquittal, dated August 29, 2011, as being erroneous.
According to the CBI, Pandya, who was a minister in the then Narendra Modi-led state government in Gujarat, was murdered to avenge the 2002 communal riots in the state. He was shot dead on March 26, 2003, in Ahmedabad near Law Garden during his morning walk.
The SC had admitted the appeal filed by the CBI and state on January 5, 2012.
