NGO Centre for PIL has filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking fresh probe into the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya..The petition filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan states that the need for this petition has arisen due to “some startling information” that has recently come to light, and has been extensively reported by the media regarding Haren Pandya’s murder..Pandya was found murdered in Ahmedabad in 2003. The murder was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The trial court had convicted 12 persons for the murder but the Gujarat High Court acquitted them while noting that the investigating agency has shown inaptitude in its investigation and that due to a “botched” and “misdirected” investigation, injustice has been caused..The petition, which has arraigned Central government and CBI as parties, places reliance on the testimony of one of the witnesses in the another controversial case – Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. As per the petition, the witness, Azam Khan, was produced as a prosecution witness and during his examination before the trial court on November 3, 2018 revealed that Sohrabuddin had told him that a contract to kill Haren Pandya had been given to him by a Gujarat cadre IPS officer DG Vanzara and that Sohrabuddin’s associate Tulsiram Prajapati along with one Naeem and a Shahid Rampuri had murdered Haren Pandya in pursuance of that contract..Azam Khan also revealed that he had given this information to the CBI in 2010 (when an appeal in Haren Pandya’s murder was pending before the High Court of Gujarat) but the CBI did not pay any heed to this information and told him to keep quiet about it as it would lead to problems for the investigating agency..The petitioner has also placed reliance on Times of India report of 2013 wherein DG Vanzara is himself reported to have told the CBI that Sohrabuddin was involved in Pandya’s murder and that the murder was a part of a political conspiracy..Further, the petitioner cites the book Gujarat Files written by Journalist Rana Ayyub as per which a sting operation conducted on a police officer YA Shaikh corroborates that the murder of Pandya was a result of political conspiracy. Shaikh, who had started the investigation before the same was handed over to the CBI, told Ayyub that Haren Pandya’s murder was a political conspiracy and that the CBI had not conducted any investigation on its own. He also told her that the person accused of shooting Pandya was already in police custody before the murder as too the eye-witnesses in the case, who was tutored by the CBI..The petitioner has also made detailed arguments on the identity sketch of the assassin which matches Tulsiram Prajapati. The petitioner contends that the sketch that was prepared on the basis of the description provided by the eye-witness did not match the appearance of alleged shooter, Asghar Ali, who was the shooter prosecuted by the CBI for the murder. However, it has recently been revealed that the sketch that was drawn at that time exactly matches with photographs of Tulsiram Prajapati, who Azam Khan says killed Haren Pandya..The petitioner has made the following prayers:.Produce the statement dated 2010 of DG Vanzara to the CBIDirect an inquiry into the circumstances in which an identity sketch of the assassin drawn on 27/3/2003 which matches Tulsiram Prajapati more than the accused put on trial and the nature of investigation done on the sameOrder fresh-investigation of the murder of Shri Haren Pandya under the supervision of this Hon’ble Court; and/or,Order an inquiry against the officers who conducted the earlier investigation and hold the errant officials accountable for the botched up investigation.Read the petition below..Image Courtesy: Outlook
NGO Centre for PIL has filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking fresh probe into the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya..The petition filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan states that the need for this petition has arisen due to “some startling information” that has recently come to light, and has been extensively reported by the media regarding Haren Pandya’s murder..Pandya was found murdered in Ahmedabad in 2003. The murder was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The trial court had convicted 12 persons for the murder but the Gujarat High Court acquitted them while noting that the investigating agency has shown inaptitude in its investigation and that due to a “botched” and “misdirected” investigation, injustice has been caused..The petition, which has arraigned Central government and CBI as parties, places reliance on the testimony of one of the witnesses in the another controversial case – Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. As per the petition, the witness, Azam Khan, was produced as a prosecution witness and during his examination before the trial court on November 3, 2018 revealed that Sohrabuddin had told him that a contract to kill Haren Pandya had been given to him by a Gujarat cadre IPS officer DG Vanzara and that Sohrabuddin’s associate Tulsiram Prajapati along with one Naeem and a Shahid Rampuri had murdered Haren Pandya in pursuance of that contract..Azam Khan also revealed that he had given this information to the CBI in 2010 (when an appeal in Haren Pandya’s murder was pending before the High Court of Gujarat) but the CBI did not pay any heed to this information and told him to keep quiet about it as it would lead to problems for the investigating agency..The petitioner has also placed reliance on Times of India report of 2013 wherein DG Vanzara is himself reported to have told the CBI that Sohrabuddin was involved in Pandya’s murder and that the murder was a part of a political conspiracy..Further, the petitioner cites the book Gujarat Files written by Journalist Rana Ayyub as per which a sting operation conducted on a police officer YA Shaikh corroborates that the murder of Pandya was a result of political conspiracy. Shaikh, who had started the investigation before the same was handed over to the CBI, told Ayyub that Haren Pandya’s murder was a political conspiracy and that the CBI had not conducted any investigation on its own. He also told her that the person accused of shooting Pandya was already in police custody before the murder as too the eye-witnesses in the case, who was tutored by the CBI..The petitioner has also made detailed arguments on the identity sketch of the assassin which matches Tulsiram Prajapati. The petitioner contends that the sketch that was prepared on the basis of the description provided by the eye-witness did not match the appearance of alleged shooter, Asghar Ali, who was the shooter prosecuted by the CBI for the murder. However, it has recently been revealed that the sketch that was drawn at that time exactly matches with photographs of Tulsiram Prajapati, who Azam Khan says killed Haren Pandya..The petitioner has made the following prayers:.Produce the statement dated 2010 of DG Vanzara to the CBIDirect an inquiry into the circumstances in which an identity sketch of the assassin drawn on 27/3/2003 which matches Tulsiram Prajapati more than the accused put on trial and the nature of investigation done on the sameOrder fresh-investigation of the murder of Shri Haren Pandya under the supervision of this Hon’ble Court; and/or,Order an inquiry against the officers who conducted the earlier investigation and hold the errant officials accountable for the botched up investigation.Read the petition below..Image Courtesy: Outlook
