Pandya case: HC orders deletion of Modi’s name

A division Bench of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday ordered that Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s...

A division Bench of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday ordered that Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s name be deleted from all the three applications pending before it in connection with the Haren Pandya murder case, as he has no “locus standi” in the case.

The court said that it has ordered the deletion of Modi’s name without going into the merits of the case. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for February 4.

Three appeals from the orders of the designated POTA court, which heard the former state home minister Haren Pandya’s murder case, preferred by his father Vitthal Pandya, are pending before the High Court.

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Vitthal Pandya has termed his son’s assassination as a “political murder” and had asked for re-investigation of the case.

He had also demanded that Modi be made an accused in the case for his alleged role in the murder.

However, the Division Bench of Justices J R Vora and M R Shah said that Modi has not been named as an accused by the trial court or even by the CBI, which is investigating the case. Therefore, Modi is not required to be heard at this stage of the case.

Senior Advocate Maganbhai Barot, who appeared on behalf of Vitthal Pandya, said: “We are not saying that Modi is an accused, we are saying that he should be made an accused in the case.”