Haren Pandya murder: SC restores trial court conviction of 12 accused

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran today set aside a Gujarat High Court order acquitting all 12 accused in the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya and restored the trial court conviction that awarded them life imprisonment.

While restoring the trial court conviction, the apex court, however,  dismissed the Public Interest Litigation filed by an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, seeking a further probe into the murder of Pandya and imposed a fine of Rs 50, 000, saying “no further petition would be entertained in the case”.

Haren Pandya, who was the Home Minister in the Narendra Modi-led government in Gujarat was murdered on March 26, 2003, in Ahmedabad. The Central Bureau of Investigation maintained that Pandya was murdered as part of a conspiracy to avenge the 2002 communal riots in the state.

While upholding the trial’s court decision of 2007 that convicted the 12 persons for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Gujarat High Court had acquitted the 12 persons for the charges of murder. The High Court had then said: “What clearly stands out from the record of the present case is that the investigation in the case of the murder of Haren Pandya has all through been botched up and blinkered and has left a lot to be desired.”

The bench had reserved its order on an appeal filed by CBI on January 31, 2019, against the Gujarat High Court order of August 29, 2011.