The Gujarat High Court on Monday acquitted former BJP MP Dinu Solanki and six others in the murder case of RTI activist Amit Jethwa in 2010.
A bench comprising Justices AS Supehia and Vimal K Vyas nullified the CBI court’s decision of sentencing them to life imprisonment. The court observed that the trial court proceeded with a “predetermined notion of conviction,” and the entire investigation, from the outset of the offence, appeared to be “perfunctory and prejudiced.”
Shot Dead
Jethwa was fatally shot outside the high court premises on July 20, 2010. In 2019, Solanki and six others were handed life sentences by the CBI court and were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 15 lakh for the charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. Later, the high court suspended the life sentences of Dinu Solanki and his nephew, who were also convicted in the case. The High Court accepted the appeals filed by Dinu Solanki, the primary accused, and six others, consequently annulling the CBI court’s decision of sentencing them to life imprisonment.
In September 2021, the high court suspended Dinu Solanki’s sentence while his appeal against conviction by the CBI court, dated June 7, 2019, was pending.
Last year, the Court also suspended the life sentence of his nephew Shiva Solanki and granted him bail while his appeal against conviction by the CBI court was being heard. Jethwa was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010, after attempting to expose illegal mining activities allegedly involving Dinu Solanki by seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
FIR
An FIR was lodged against two unidentified assailants, and the investigation was transferred to the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which filed a chargesheet. In September 2012, the high court handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI court convicted the seven individuals and sentenced them to life imprisonment on June 7, 2019.
