On Monday, the High Court of Gujarat allowed the appeals of former BJP MP Dinu Solanki & six others against their conviction by a CBI court in the case of RTI activist Amit Jethwa's murder in 2010.

A division bench of Justice AS Supehia & Justice Vimal K Vyas quashed the CBI court's order sentencing them to life imprisonment.

The Trial Court conducted proceedings with a "predetermined notion of conviction," & the entire investigation, right from the inception of the offence, appears to be "perfunctory & prejudiced," the High Court observed.

Amit Jethwa was shot dead outside the HC premises here on July 20, 2010.

Dinu Solanki & 6 others were sentenced to life imprisonment by the CBI court in 2019 & ordered to pay a fine of Rs 15 lakh in the case of murder & criminal conspiracy.

The HC had later suspended the life sentences of Dinu Solanki & his nephew, who was also convicted in the case.

On Monday, the High Court allowed the appeals moved by Dinu Solanki, the main accused in the case, & six others & quashed the CBI court's order sentencing them to life imprisonment.

In Sept 2021, the HC suspended Dinu Solanki's sentence pending his appeal against conviction by the CBI court on June 7, 2019.

In 2023, the High Court also suspended the life sentence of his nephew Shiva Solanki & granted him bail pending hearing of his appeal against his conviction by the CBI court.

Jethwa was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010 after he tried to expose illegal mining activities allegedly involving Dinu Solanki by seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

An FIR was then lodged against two unidentified assailants & the investigation was transferred to the state police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which filed a chargesheet.

In Sept 2012, the HC handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI court convicted the seven persons & sentenced them to life imprisonment on June 7, 2019.

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