Pota court had convicted 12 people & sentenced them to various terms in 2007.
A bench of the Gujarat high court comprising justices DH Waghela and JC Upadhyay will, on Monday, pronounce the much-awaited verdict on the appeal filed by those convicted in the Haren Pandya murder case. The bench had concluded the hearing of appeal on August 12.
Earlier, on June 25, 2007, Sonia Gokani, special Pota judge, had sentenced nine of the accused to life imprisonment, two to seven years in jail and one accused to five-year jail term.
Hyderabad-based Asgar Ali was sentenced to imprisonment till death as it was he who had shot at Pandya from point blank range and killed him.
The BJP leader, Haren Pandya, was found dead in his Maruti-800 car opposite Law Garden, on the morning of March 26, 2003. The investigation was carried out first by the local police and the first FIR was registered with the Ellisbridge police station.
However, subsequently, the case was transferred to the CBI after which the central agency had registered an FIR and started investigations from March 28, 2003.
The 12 accused were convicted on the basis of the statement given by an eyewitness, Anil Yadram, the confessional statements made by an accused couple, and other scientific evidences.
Later, Haren's father, Vitthal Pandya, had levelled allegations that his son was murdered at the behest of chief minister Narendra Modi as Haren had refused to vacate the Ellisbridge assembly seat for the chief minister. Modi had become chief minister after replacing Keshubhai Patel.
Vitthal Pandya had moved petitions first before the Gujarat high court and then the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the alleged role of Modi in Haren's assassination but his petitions were not entertained by either court. Vitthal Pandya died earlier this year after a short illness.
In his petition filed before the Gujarat high court, Vitthal Pandya had demanded a re-investigation of the murder case, and had also named chief minister Narendra Modi as a party in the case.
He had claimed that the investigating agency, the CBI, hadn't done its job sincerely and had investigated the case merely on tips provided by the local crime branch.
He had also alleged that Modi was also one of the conspirators in the murder and that the CBI had not investigated in this direction at all.
During the hearing of the plea for condoning of delay in filing of the plea, the AMC’s role was also questioned. It was alleged that the civic body had removed hawkers and vendors from the Law Garden area the day Pandya was killed.
The HC had, however, deleted Modi's name from the list of respondents. When contacted ahead of the judgement expected on Monday, wife of Haren Pandya, Jagruti, refused to make any comments. "I will speak once the judgment is pronounced by the HC on Monday," she said.
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