Solanki should suffer like we did, says slain RTI activist's father

BJP MP's arrest in RTI activist murder case seen as setback for Modi

Arrest of BJP member of parliament Dinu Bogha Solanki on Wednesday by the CBI for alleged involvement in criminal conspiracy and murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa comes as a big blow to country's main opposition party and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi ahead of the 2014 general elections.

The BJP which has been criticising Congress-led UPA government over corruption finds itself in an embarrassing position following arrest of Solanki.

This follows the conviction of agriculture minister in Modi government, Babu Bokhiria along with three others for three years in Rs 54 crore illegal limestone mining case of 2006 in Porbander on June 15 this year. Bokhiria and other were convicted by chief judicial magistrate's court which has been stayed by Porbandar sessions court.

Solanki was arrested by the central agency yesterday for allegedly conspiring to kill Jethwa, who sought to expose illegal mining in protected Gir region, the only abode of Asiatic lions in the world.

Reacting to Solanki's arrest, Jethwa's father Bhikhabhai said that he did not want capital punishment for the MP. "Solanki's arrest has strengthened our faith in the criminal justice system. This will lead to exposing others involved in the illegal mining nexus," Bhikhabhai said.

"We do not want capital punishment for Solanki. He should be sent to 40 to 100 years in prison. He should suffer like we have," he said.

Talking about the consequence of Solanki's arrest, Bhikhabhai said, "This will make things difficult for the BJP during Lok Sabha election in 2014, especially in Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar. We have over 5,000 activists who will campaign against the ruling Narendra Modi government which has been protecting culprits till now."

He further added that his family celebrated Diwali after three years on Wednesday after arrest of Solanki. Bhikhabhai also applauded the work done by the CBI.

Jethwa, a 34-year-old Right to Information activist, who had filed numerous public interest litigations (PILs) against illegal mining in Gir region was shot at point-blank range on July 20, 2010 by two motorcycle-borne assailants near Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad.

In his PILs Jethwa had accused Solanki of being involved in illegal mining around the protected Gir forest region and had been campaigning to expose his activities. Jethwa's killing had sparked an uproar among the RTI activists across the country who raised concerns over the safety of such whistleblowers.

During earlier investigation in 2010 by Ahmedabad crime branch six persons including Solanki's nephew Shiva and sharp shooter Sailesh Pandya, who had shot at Jethwa, were arrested. At that time the crime branch had ruled out any involvement of Solanki in the murder.

Aggrieved by this Jethwa's father, Bhikabhai, had approached the high court alleging that the state police had not properly investigated the case. He had alleged that Solanki was behind the murder but Modi government was shielding its own MP.

While transferring the investigation to CBI in September 2012, the High Court had rapped the state police for its shoddy probe. Court had observed that investigation in Jethwa murder case was "far from fair, independent, bona fide or prompt".

Who is Dinu bogha Solanki?

Solanki is a three time MLA (since 1998) from Kodinar constituency in Junagadh and was elected Member of Parliament from Junagadh seat in 2009. He is considered close to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and former minister of state Amit Shah accused in couple of fake police encounter cases. He is also related to Gujarat Assembly speaker Vaju Vala.

The parliamentarian is involved in many business including, providing transport service to cement industry in Junagadh, miniing, real estate, stone crushing, cable network, besides running Rajmoti Charitable Trust in his home constituency.

According to Jethwa's father Bhikhabhai, arrest of Solanki is likely to disturb many equations among the police, politician, bureaucracy and cement industry thriving in Kodinar and nearby regions and those involved in illegal mining.

"The power acquired by Dinu Bogha Solanki after affiliating himself with cement industry thriving in Kodinar coupled with the caste and the party politics made him a successful politician of the region," Bhikhabhai said.

He further alleged that Solanki became more successful because he has backing of the ruling BJP and his closeness to Amit Shah. "Collectively both of them (Solanki and Shah) changed the co-operative politics of Junagadh district and within a span of 10 years entire co-operative structure in every sphere was taken over by BJP," he added.

Bhikhabhai further said that politics of caste, limestone and continuous flow of money and muscle power from cement industry has made Solanki an uncrowned king who provides limestone mainly through illegal mining to the cement industry with the assistance of his mercenaries.

According to Bhikhabhi's petition in the Gujarat High Court "In November 2003, Junagadh superintendent of police had prepared a report about activities of the then MLA Dinu Solanki to the Collector. The report categorically states that Dinu Bogha Solanki is involved in underground activities. It further states that MLA brings too much and undue pressure upon local Kodinar police and insists that the police must register FIR and investigate against the person he wants by any means."

The report further states that the MLA (Solanki) is not only communal and has a grudge against Muslims but has problem with other contractors of cement industry and politicians affiliated to Congress, the petition added.