Ahmedabad:
The Ahmedabad crime branch claims to have evidence linking influential BJP MP Dinu Solanki's nephew to the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa in July this year.
The crime branch is basing its charges on the confession of a police constable, Bahadursinh Wader. The police claim that the immediate trigger was a complaint filed by Jethwa on the setting up of a cellphone tower in a protected area. Shiva, they said, had the contract for setting up the tower. (
Read: Police constable arrested)
The police had earlier said that Constable Bahadursinh Wader had hired killers to murder him because Jethwa's PIL had exposed his illegal land grab in the forest. Now, they say Shiva Solanki had ordered Wader to kill Jethwa.
Jethwa had levelled serious allegations against all three men:
- Against Dinu Solanki: Complaints of illegal mining and land grab inside Gir
- Against Shiva Solanki: Charges of illegal mining, land grab and setting up illegal cellular towers in the wildlife reserve
- Against Constable Bahadursinh Wader: A PIL exposing forest land grab
All three men are from Kodinar Taluka, adjoining the Gir Forest.
Last week, even as Wader had claimed responsibility for the killing, few niggling clues had left the police unconvinced:
- Why would Wader pay Rs15 lakh for killing Jethwa when the land he lost was worth Rs 10 lakh?
- Why would Wader let the killers use a friend's motorcycle to carry out the murder?
- And then, repeated questions by Jethwa's family why BJP MP Dinu Solanki - the prime suspect in their eyes - had not been questioned?
As another BJP leader's name gets dragged in a high-profile murder case, the clouds of crime and corruption intensify over the Gujarat BJP.
Shiva is an important BJP functionary in Junagarh district and is not just Dinu Solanki's relative, but also handles all his business deals. The Crime Branch is looking for Shiva Solanki all across the Saurashtra region.
Amit Jethwa was an activist in his mid-30s from Saurashtra and had filed a number of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against illegal mining and land grab in the Gir Forest, India's prime lion sanctuary. He was shot dead near the Gujarat High Court on July 20 evening by two assailants who came on a motorcycle. (
Read: RTI activist Amit Jethwa shot dead)