Haren Pandya murder case: SC to deliver verdict on appeals by CBI, Gujarat

Haren Pandya was shot dead in Ahmedabad on March 26, 2003

The Supreme Court on Friday will deliver judgement on the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Gujarat government's plea challenging the acquittal of 12 persons in the murder case of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in 2003.

The court on January 31 reserved its verdict in the appeal by the CBI against the Gujarat High Court's acquittal of all the accused in the Pandya murder case.

Pandya was shot dead in Ahmedabad on March 26, 2003.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra will also pronounce order on a petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), an NGO, seeking a fresh probe into the case.

The CPIL has citing the testimony of Azam Khan, a witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in which now BJP President Amit Shah was arrested before being absolved of all the charges.

The petition contended that a fresh probe was imperative, citing the Gujarat High Court verdict which while acquitting all the accused called the investigation conducted as "botched" and "misdirected".

The petition cites the testimony of Khan who claimed that "Sohrabuddin had told him that a contract to kill Haren Pandya had been given to him by a Gujarat cadre IPS officer, D.G. Vanzara, and that Sohrabuddin's associate Tulsiram Prajapati along with one Naeem and Shahid Rampuri had murdered Haren Pandya in pursuance of that contract."