AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Thursday issued notice to the state government, the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after one of the witnesses in Amit Jethava murder case sought transfer of investigation into kidnapping of his son to the CBI.
Dharmendragiri Goswami was a witness who turned hostile after his minor son was allegedly kidnapped while he was in the witness box.
He informed the court about the incident and left the witness box.
Later, while convicting six persons including former BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Bogha Solanki and his nephew Pratap alias Shiva Solanki in July 2019, the CBI court had ordered CBI and Gujarat police to conduct a joint inquiry and report on the kidnapping of the minor.
After inquiry, an FIR was lodged at Una police station in 2020 and chargesheet was filed against one person.
Goswami and Jethava’s father Bhikhabhai approached HC nearly a year after registration of FIR and said that the minor was kidnapped to prevent Goswami from giving evidence.
Their advocate Anand Yagnik complained that Una inspector Vijay Chaudhari had not been conducting investigation in a proper manner and was not taking action against the Solankis.
Besides, the petitioners claimed that the administration and police from the Union territory of Diu had been harassing Goswami by causing disruptions in his contract for marine sports.
They also alleged that the Diu officials acted outside Diu jurisdiction to pressurise Goswami into settling the dispute with the accused in the Amit Jethava murder case.
The petitioners sought transfer of the probe either to the CBI or to an IPS officer of IG cadre in Gujarat police.
They urged for completion of investigation.
They also asked for an FIR against concerned Diu officials for their alleged action outside their jurisdiction.
An inquiry by the central authority has been also sought into how the officials of the union territory allegedly pressured Goswami to enter into a compromise.
The petitioners have also sought suspension or transfer of the Una inspector and an immediate stay on current probe.
Justice Vipul Pancholi issued a notice and sought reply from various authorities by July 19.
The murder trial has a chequered history with the HC ordering a re-trial after 105 out of 196 witnesses turning hostile.
The SC restricted re-trial to re-examination of 26 witnesses, but 25 turned hostile again.