Gujarat HC judgment in Haren Pandya murder case

Gujarat High Court has acquitted all the 12 accused, including main accused Asgar Ali, in the Haren Pandya murder case. The High Court lambasted the investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, saying the agency had botched up the investigations leading to enormous waste of time. The Court acquitted the accused of murder charges; however, they were convicted of smaller crimes under Sections 307, 120B of the IPC and were likely to be released from jail as they had already served their sentence against these offences.

The High Court had earlier reserved its verdict after completing the month-long hearing of arguments on August 12th. AIR Ahmedabad correspondent reports that former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya was shot dead in 2003 near Law Garden area in Ahmedabad. The case was probed by the CBI, which nabbed 15 people out of the 19 named as accused for the murder to avenge the 2002 Gujarat riots. Earlier, a special POTA Court convicted 12 people, including Asgar Ali and awarded life imprisonment to nine of them. Two others got seven-year jail and another person got a five-year jail sentence.