Haren and Vitthalbhai Pandya

Ahmedabad, June 25: Three days ago, Vitthalbhai Pandya was beaming on television screens across the country as his niece Sunita Williams returned to Earth from space.

Today, the octogenarian was fuming as a court refused to send to death row the killers of his son and former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya despite accepting that the murder was a “clear case of terrorism”.

The man who pulled the trigger in 2003, Mohammad Asghar Ali, has been sentenced to life in prison till natural death, while eight others have been given normal life imprisonment that amounts to 14 years in jail.

The anti-terror court also sentenced two others to seven years’ imprisonment and another to five years.

Although the prosecution had sought capital punishment, the court said the case does not fall into the “rarest of rare” category.

The murder was initially seen as part of a campaign of vendetta against political leaders in the wake of the Gujarat communal riots. However, an element of intrigue was added when it emerged that Haren was a dissident within the BJP and prominent critic of chief minister Narendra Modi.

Vitthalbhai today expressed dissatisfaction at the manner in which the probe was carried out to protect the “real culprit” and “mastermind”.

He accused the CBI of carrying out a “shoddy” investigation under pressure from the BJP leadership and blamed Modi for the “political murder” of 43-year-old Haren. Modi has consistently denied the charge.

Haren — who was a political threat to Modi — was killed on March 26, 2003, near a park while returning from his morning walk. The judgment was delivered by Sonia Gokani inside the Sabarmati Jail.

It was not just Vitthalbhai who was unhappy with the verdict. Family members of one of the accused, Kalim, too, expressed disappointment.

“It seems it is a crime to be a Muslim in this state. They did not bother to check the family history. The entire Kalupur area will vouch for the innocence of my son,” his father Mohammad Habib said.

Kalim and another accused, Anas Maachiwala, had been convicted for 10 years by the same court in a tiffin bomb case.

Defence advocate B.M. Gupta said he would challenge the verdict in the high court.Vitthalbhai, who was not allowed to attend the court proceedings as the trial was held in-camera, said: “The CBI did not conduct a proper investigation. The agency worked under the guidelines of DIG D.G. Vanzara, the encounter specialist who is now in Sabarmati Jail.”

He said he was not satisfied with the probe as Modi was never interrogated. He is the mastermind, said Vitthalbhai, and the CBI should have grilled him, but that never happened.

Neither were key witnesses, including the slain BJP leader’s wife and secretary, examined.

He added that his statement was recorded only after much persuasion.