Gujarat to challenge Haren Pandya case accquittals

The Gujarat government has decided to challenge in the Supreme Court the state  high court's acquittal of  the 12 people accused of murdering former minister of state for home Haren Pandya.

This information was given by special public prosecutor JM Panchal on Tuesday when Justice RH Shukla of the high court was hearing the petition of Pandya's widow Jagruti Pandya, seeking re-investigation in the case.

"The state government will challenge the Gujarat High Court’s order of dropping murder charges from all the 12 accused of Pandya murder case," Panchal said.

The high court will hold hearings on Jagruti’s petition in the first week of December, citing that the court has to give three months' time to the CBI to file an appeal in the apex court.

A high court bench of Justice DH Waghela and Justice JC Upadhyay on August 29 dropped the murder charges against all the 12 accused, including main accused Ashgar Ali, and also removed the charges of criminal conspiracy and terrorism under the POTA slapped by the trial court.

Pandya was found dead in his car in Law Garden area here on the morning of March 26, 2003. The CBI investigation report revealed that Pandya was killed by bullets fired from point blank range. The CBI's case was that Pandya was murdered in revenge for the 2002 communal riots.