Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Wednesday directed
the CBI and the state government to file replies to a petition
seeking re-investigations of murder of former state minister
Haren Pandya.
Justice A S Dave of HC said that petition filed by
Pandya`s wife, Jagruti, would be heard from February
6, and CBI as well as the state should file replies by then.
Jagruti filed the petition last September, after a
division bench of High Court dropped murder charges against 12
convicts in the case and criticised the investigation by CBI,
calling it "botched up" and "blinkered".
Both CBI and state government have filed appeals against
the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court.
Pandya, a former minister of state for home in the BJP
government in the state, was shot dead on March 26, 2003,
near Law Garden area here while out on a morning walk.
After conviction by trial court, 12 accused in the case
approached the HC, which, on August 29, dropped charge of
murder against them, but upheld the charges of criminal
conspiracy and terrorism under POTA.
In her petition, Jagruti has claimed that CBI did not
investigated the case properly, despite being provided
with several leads.
PTI
