Symbolic picture
A session court in Ahmedabad sentenced 10 people to rigorous life imprisonment in 2006 for the murder of a overseas Indian (NRI). The NRI had sought an account of foreign funds raised for a spiritual organization. Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Jadhav on Friday found the members of the spiritual organization ‘Swadhyaya family’ to be convicted on charges including murder and criminal conspiracy after considering the statements and evidence of 84 witnesses.
Beaten murder
NRI Pankaj Trivedi, associated with the Swadhyaya family, was beaten to death on 15 June 2006 near Elisbridge Gymkhana in the city. According to the prosecution, Trivedi helped the organization to raise funds from abroad for Bhuj earthquake relief in 2001. However, when he inquired about the expenditure of this money, the members of the organization lodged several complaints against him.
Court knocks door
The prosecution said that Trivedi contacted the police when he felt the danger and wrote a letter to the then Chief Minister and named 30 members of the organization and said that if anything happens to him or his friends, he would be responsible for it. The accused knocked on the door of the lower courts, the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court against Trivedi, but the cases were rejected against him.
These convicts sentenced to imprisonment
The prosecution said that after a legal shock, the accused were looking for a chance to kill Trivedi. The court sentenced Chandrasinh Jadeja, Hitesh Singh Chudasama, Daksha Shah, Bhupatsingh Jadeja, Mansingh Vadher, Ghanshyam Chudasama, Bharat Bhatt, Bharat Singh Jadeja, Chandrakant Daki and Jasubha Jadeja to life imprisonment in the case.
The court also took a tough stance even after the 23 witnesses were retracted during the trial and issued a notice for false testimony under Section 344 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC). (With language input)
