RAJKOT--BJP leader Narendra Solanki failed to get immediate protection form arrest in the case of attempt to murder a city-based property dealer as District and Sessions Court of Rajkot on Wednesday reserved its order on his anticipatory bail plea till March 24.
Solanki had moved the court last Thursday seeking anticipatory bail in connection with alleged attempt to murder property dealer Jagdish Rathod and the matter came up for hearing in the court of additional sessions judge GM Damodara on Wednesday.
Appearing for Solanki, senior advocate Niranjan Daftari said prima facie, the applicant was not involved in the case. “Police do not have evidence to prove that Solanki was part of any criminal conspiracy to attack Rathod. The original complaint does name Solanki as a suspect and Rathod’s wife Damyanti, who is complainant and also a BJP corporator form Ward number 22 of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), only raised suspicion that Solanki was behind the attack only in her further statement,” Daftari argued.
The senior advocate further submitted that his client should not be subjected to any prejudice just because he had turned a sanyasia yea-and-half ago. “Police have relied on statement given by arrested that they acted at the behest of Solanki to attack Rathod. But during primary interrogation, the accused had not named our client and had instead said that they attacked Rathod over payment of money for a plot of land. On top of all this, police have no witness telling that three persons arrested in the case were real assailants,” pleaded Daftari.
However, assistant public prosecutor (APP) Rakshit Kalola refuted arguments of Daftari.
“Call detail records (CDR) of arrested accused Vikram Rabari and Solanki prove that the BJP leader had talked to the accused 43 times in 48 hours after the crime was committed on March 3. CDR also point that prime Rabari was at Aapa Giga no Otlo, Solanki’s ashram near Chotila on the preceding night of the crime,” stated Kalola.
The Indian Express
