It was double delight for Gujarat Government in the Supreme Court with the apex court discharging a former Minister in the Narendra Modi dispensation in a murder case, and expressing satisfaction over the ongoing trial in the Gujarat riots cases.
Monitoring nine riots cases, the Bench of Justices Hl Dattu, Ranjana Desai and MY Eqbal were told by the Special Investigation Team conducting the trial that in six cases trial had ended. The remaining three cases related to Gulbarga Society involving death of Congress MP Ehsaan Jaffri, Naroda Gaon case, and Prantij (Sabarkantha), where three British nationals were killed.
The Gulbarga society case has repeatedly hogged headlines as the widow of Congress MP has been making several futile attempts to probe the role of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in conspiring to kill her husband among several others. However, the SIT gave Modi a clean chit that even got the backing of the Magistrate hearing the case.
Taking the SIT report on record, the bench said, “There is a lot of progress made. In six cases trial is over and in other three, trial is at stage of completion.” The Court posted the matter for hearing on August 26 with a direction to SIT to inform about the latest status on investigation on that date.
While this development is sure to boost the confidence of BJP, in particular that of Modi in an election year, what came as an added bonanza was another news from apex court earlier in the day. A bench headed by Justice CK Prasad on Thursday pronounced its order on a petition filed by former Gujarat Water Resources Minister Babubhai Bokhiria who challenged an order of a Porbandar court to charge him of conspiring to murder a Congress leader Mulu Modhwadia in November 2005.
After the Gujarat High Court approved the lower court’s order, Bokhiria approached the apex court seeking quashing of the charge against him. The apex court quashed the summons issued by the Porbandar court and set aside all criminal proceedings against him.
Modhwadia was murdered by three gunmen on November 16, 2005. He was a local Congress leader and businessman in Porbandar. A letter written by Modhwadia was reproduced by his son where the deceased apprehended threat from Bokhiria to his life. Following this note, Bokhiria was named as an accused in the case.