Former BJP MP convicted: How the murder of RTI activist in Gujarat was solved

On July 20, 2010, two men on a motorcycle shot Jethwa opposite the Gujarat High Court outside the Bar Council building around 8.30 pm. They fled, leaving behind their Bajaj Discover motorcycle bearing the registration number GJ-01-DQ-2482, along with a country-made revolver. It was later found that the bike had been stolen. It was traced to a motorcycle thief, who told the police that he had given the bike to Vadher, on July 19, 2010.

As reported by this paper, police said that Vadher confessed to giving Rs 11 lakh to two contract killers for Jethwa’s murder and was thus arrested.

The Crime Branch at the time said that their investigations had led them to believe that Vadher had ordered the killing to avenge the loss of money he suffered while fighting Jethwa’s RTI applications for a 12-hectare mining land he had purchased in Gir. Along with Vadher’s arrest, two others were detained on the same day, one of whom turned out to be Sanjay Chauhan.

The other two accused wanted in this case at the time were Shailesh Pandya, a sharpshooter from Patan who allegedly shot at Jethwa, and Pachan Desai, a bootlegger. Desai was suspected to be the person who introduced the constable to the sharpshooters. Crime branch police said Desai had arranged for the sharpshooters Shailesh Pandya and Udaiji Thakore to carry out the plan.

Although Chauhan was already in detention, less than a week after Vadher’s arrest, the 22-year old youth was arrested from Una. The arrest came after Desai disclosed that Chauhan had identified Jethwa for him in Ahmedabad.

The Crime Branch inspector at the time had said that constable Vadher had identified Jethwa for Sanjay Chauhan when he was in Junagadh. Chauhan and Vadher were found to have maintained friendly terms.

Meanwhile, by this time, the police had seized Pachan’s Maruti car, which was used by him, Pandya and Chauhan to follow Jethwa from Junagadh and Ahmedabad. On September 6, 2010, Shiva Solanki, nephew of Dinu Solanki, was arrested from Rajkot airport, who was then leaving for Mumbai. The Ahmedabad police had considered him the main accused in the murder case. As reported by this paper, the police’s investigation had suggested that the MP’s nephew might have hired the contract killers who shot Jethwa dead.

Then deputy commissioner of police, Crime, Himanshu Shukla had confirmed Solanki’s arrest and had said: “He (Shiva) had asked another accused Bahadursinh Dhirubhai Vadher (who was a police constable) to eliminate Amit Jethwa. Bahadur (Vadher) then planned the crime and executed it with the help of sharpshooters Shailesh Pandya and Pachan Desai, who have been arrested.”

Subsequently, Bahadursinh was also the first to crack and spilled the beans on Shiva Solanki, during interrogation. He had told the police that six mines of Shiva Solanki were non-operational because of Jethwa’s application against them.

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch on October 2, 2010, arrested Udaiji Thakore, an associate of Shailesh Pandya. Thakore, who had allegedly accompanied Pandya at the time of the murder, was arrested near Geeta Mandir following a tip-off about his arrival in Ahmedabad. The identity of Thakore, a native of Gandhidham, had remained unknown for over two months since the murder.

Meanwhile, on November 17, 2010, a man was arrested from the Kurla bus stop in Mumbai. He was found to be carrying firearms and live cartridges. It turned out that this firearm-bearing man was Shailesh Pandya, one of the accused in the murder of Jethwa. Pandya was a known hitman from Patan. The ACP Crime of Mumbai then handed over custody of Pandya to Ahmedabad.

It took another three years for then BJP MP Dinu Solanki, from Junagadh constituency, to be arrested in November 2013 by the CBI. Crime branch Ahmedabad had already given Dinu a clean chit in 2011.