Pandya’s sister wants reinvestigation into brother’s killing

“My father,late Vitthal Pandya,all along maintained that it was a political murder,” she told mediapersons.

“I too agree with my late father that it was a political murder,” she alleged.

Her statement comes a week after the Gujarat High Court verdict that dropped murder charges against all the 12 accused in the case. (Though the court had upheld the charges of criminal conspiracy and terrorism under POTA against them.)

The high court had raised questions about the investigation done by the CBI in the case. The verdict has now posed a question before family members as to who killed Haren.

Chhaya said the real killers of her brother were still roaming free and she wanted them to be behind bars.

“I have sought time from the Prime Minister to make a representation demanding reinvestigation into Haren’s murder,” Chhaya said.

Pandya,who was the minister of state for home in the Keshubhai Patel government,was shot dead on March 26,2003 near Law Garden here when he was out for a morning walk.

The lawyer of Pandya’s father Magan Barot who had organised the interaction with Chhaya said that his client Vitthalbhai had always maintained that his son was killed for political motives.

The CBI had however,claimed that Pandya’s death was to avenge the 2002 riots in the state.

“The CBI never went for the real killer of Haren as it took the probe in a different direction,” Barot said.

“The recent verdict of the high court proves that Vitthalbhai was correct in saying that it was a political murder and the case was not being investigated properly,” he said.

Pandya’s wife had also sought reinvestigation into the case and appealed to Modi and L K Advani to help her get justice as she has been waiting for over eight years for it.