Ex-BJP MP Dinu Solanki, 6 others guilty of killing RTI activist

Former BJP MP Dinu Solanki and six others were Saturday convicted by a special CBI court here for killing RTI activist Amit Jethwa in 2010 as he tried to expose illegal mining activities in Gir forest region.

Special CBI judge K M Dave will pronounce the quantum of sentence on July 11 in the case, where the probe was handed over to the central agency by the Gujarat High Court after the Detection of Crime Branch had given a clean chit to Solanki.

The court held Solanki, who had represented Junagadh in Gujarat from 2009 to 2014, along with his cousin Shiva Solanki and five others guilty on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Jethwa was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010 after he tried to expose illegal mining activities allegedly involving Dinu Solanki through RTI applications.

Jethwa had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the HC against illegal mining in the Gir forest region, the habitat of Asiatic lions.

Charges of murder and criminal conspiracy were framed against the seven accused, including Dinu Solanki, in May 2016.

Other accused convicted in the case are Shailesh Pandya, Bahadursinh Vadher, Panchan Desai, Sanjay Chauhan and Udaji Thakore.

The high court had ordered a fresh trial after the victim's father Bhikhabhai Jethwa approached it saying that as many as 105 witnesses had turned hostile due to pressure and intimidation by the accused.