High Court to conduct final hearing in Amit Jethva murder case

A bench of the Gujarat high court comprising justices DH Waghela and JC Upadhyay will hold final hearing of Amit Jethva murder case on July 10 and 11 over the issue of handing over the investigation to the CBI.

Sources close to the development said that the high court bench will hear both the petitioner and government during those two days and decide the petition whether or not to hand over the probe to the central agency.

Within days after he had filed a PIL seeking probe in the illegal mining activities in Gir sanctuary and various places of Junagadh, Amit Jethava was killed in cold blood by an assailant outside the Satyamev Complex in front of the Gujarat high court on July 20, 2010.

Jethava was prominent RTI activist and was fighting to preserve forest and stop illegal mining in the area. He hailed from Khambha taluka of Amreli district. Jethava's father Bhikha Jethava filed petition seeking handing over probe of the case to the CBI alleging that his son was killed in the insistence of BJP MP, Dinu Bogha Solanki, who is allegedly running illegal mining activities in Junagadh. According to Jethava senior, Solanki had also earlier made threatening calls to his son not to act against them. The first investigation done by DCB and after a lot of hue and cry had arrested few people including Dinu Solanki's nephew and president of the Kodinar Municipality, Shiva Solanki, alleged contract killer Shailesh Pandya, a police constable Bahadursinh Vadher and three other persons in connection with the murder.