RTI activist's murder: Case against BJP MP committed for trial

The special CBI court here today committed the case against BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Bogha Solanki, the prime accused in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa, to the sessions court for trial.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CBI cases) H S Khutwad committed the case, paving the way for start of the trial.
The court also provided copy of the chargesheet to Solanki. Earlier, after the copy was denied to him, he had moved the high court, but got no relief.
The CBI says in the chargesheet that the MP was involved in a criminal conspiracy that led to murder of Jethwa, who had raised voice against illegal mining in Gir forest, the only sanctuary of Asiatic lions.

The chargesheet says that Solanki was in contact, through his mobile phone, with the killers at the time of murder. The central agency has not revealed statements of two witnesses, saying that they would be revealed at the appropriate time.
Solanki was arrested on November 5 by CBI in Delhi after questioning. At present he is in judicial custody.

Gujarat Police had earlier arrested six persons, including Shiva Solanki, nephew of the BJP MP, and sharp- shooter Sailesh Pandya who allegedly shot Jethwa dead outside the Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010.
Jethwa had filed numerous RTI applications about illegal mining in Gir. He had also filed a public interest litigation on the issue.

Gujarat police's crime branch gave a clean chit to Solanki, after which Jethwa's father approached high court, which termed the police probe as "far from fair, independent, bona fide or prompt", and transferred the case to CBI.
Solanki has also filed an application before the magistrate's court saying that police demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 for not putting hand-cuffs on him. The court recorded his statement and sent it to the sessions court in a sealed cover along with case papers.