New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today admitted appeals by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Gujarat government against the Gujarat High Court order acquitting 12 persons in the Haren Pandya murder case.
The CBI argued that warrants needed to be issued against the accused in the murder of the senior BJP leader and former state Home Minister in 2003.
The court said that it would examine the case. No date for further hearing has been given.
Mr Pandya was shot five times in Ahmedabad while he was in his car near the Law Garden. The investigation was initially conducted by the Crime Branch of the Gujarat Police but the case was later handed over to the CBI, which alleged that Mr Pandya was killed to avenge the 2002 communal riots.
The agency accused 19 people of plotting and conducting the murder. Four of them were never traced.
In 2007, an Ahmedabad court found 12 of the 15 accused persons guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. They subsequently appealed in the High Court.
Acquitting these 12 persons in August last year, the Gujarat High Court said that the CBI had botched up and the agency's investigation left a lot to be desired.