Water Resource Minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet Babu Bokhiria and former Congress MP Bharat Odedara have been convicted in Rs 54-crore illegal limestones mining case and sentenced to three-year imprisonment on Saturday.
Porbander Chief Judicial Magistrate CV Pandya also sentenced two others — Bhima Odedara, who is already behind the bars for a murder case and his son laxman Odedara, who is chairman of Porbander marketing yard in the same case.
MlA from Porbander constituency Bokhiria and others got conditional bail for seven days to file an appeal. The Minister told that he would challenge the lower court order. Though he is waiting for party order to take decision on whether to resign or not.
In the last Assembly election, Bokhiria defeated Gujarat State Congress president Arjun Modhvadia with huge margin. He also holds other important portfolios like agriculture, animal husbandry and cow protection since December 25, 2012.
Manager of Saurashtra Chemical Company, Umesh Bhavsar had registered a complaint on October 5, 2006 against the Minister and other accused alleging that they had indulged in illegal mining on the land that belongs to the company, which is part of the Nirma Group.