CBI directed by Gujarat High Court to probe the murder of RTI activist
27 Sep, 2012Rejecting the claim of the state police that they have done a fair investigation in the case, a division bench of the Gujarat High Court comprising of justices DH Waghela and JC Upadhyay has directed for a CBI probe in the murder case of Amit Jethwa, a RTI Activist. The High Court acceded to the request of the father of the deceased for a probe by CBI into Dinu Solanki’s role in the case and said, “Investigation into the murder of petitioner’s (Bhikha Jethwa) son does not appear to have been carried out in conformity with the legal provisions and the control exercised by one police officer of a very high rank.” The High Court bench further observed that, “…There is sufficient ground to conclude that the investigation was controlled and the line of investigation was determined and supervised so as to put to naught the allegations made acquaintances and family members of the deceased.”
Amit Jethwas was shot outside Gujarat high court on July 20, 2010 and his father, Bhikha Jethwa, had accused the BJP’s Junagadh MP Dinu Solanki for the killing of his son. The Gujarat police had given a clean chit to the Dinu Solanki after investigation in the matter. The Gujarat High Court has criticised the investigation by Gujarat police and observed that it is compelled to transfer the case to the CBI in order to instill confidence and sense of justice in the probe.
The request to stay the order for three weeks to enable the state government to challenge it in the Supreme Court was denied by the High Court which directed the police to hand over all the case papers to the CBI within 10 days. The CBI was directed to submit its report within six months.