Ex-Gujarat BJP MP Dinu Bogha Solanki gets life sentence in murder case

Ahmedabad : A Special CBI Court here on Thursday sentenced former BJP MP Dinu Bogha Solanki from Gujarat's Saurashtra and six others to life imprisonment for the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa in July 2010.

The court had pronounced them guilty on July 6 and reserved the order on the quantum of punishment.

The other convicts are the MP's nephew Shiva Solanki, Sanjay Chauhan, Shailesh Pandya, Pachan Desai, Udaji Thakore and police constable Bahadursinh Vader.

They were charged under Sections 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder, 201 causing disappearance of evidence of offence, 120B for criminal conspiracy and Section 25(1) of Arms Act for illegal possession of arms or ammunition.

In a stinging verdict, the court also ordered legal proceedings to be initiated against 105 of the 195 witnesses, who had turned hostile.

Special CBI Court Judge K.M. Dave imposed a total penalty sum of Rs 59,25,000 on all convicts. Judge Dave directed that Rs 11 lakh from this amount will be given to Jethwa's family which would include fixed deposits in a national bank worth Rs 5 lakh for his wife and Rs 3 lakh each for the slain RTI activist's two young sons.