BJP MP Dinu Solanki mining mafia link exposed

http://asiatic-lion.blogspot.com/2010/09/bjp-mp-mining-mafia-link-exposed.html

http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/msid-4352354,prtpage-1.cms

criminal duo - Shiva and Dinu Solanki

Thirty days after BJP MP Dinu Solanki, the key suspect in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa, went into hiding, TIMES NOW has now accessed documents which exposes Solanki's alleged links to the mining mafia.

Solanki, whose nephew is accused of murdering Jethwa, has been on the run for the past 35 days, since the murder on July 21, 2010. Jhetwa was gunned down near the High Court after he filed a Public Interest Ligitation (PIL) on illegal mining in the Gir forest region of Junagarh district, in which he alleged Solanki's link to mafia.

Documents with TIMES NOW show the extraordinary clout and influence Solanki enjoys with the local administration and police, who openly defied state government dictats and even the Chief Minister himself, to keep illegal mining under wraps. Jethwa may have been killed as he was trying to expose this and lay bare the nexus between BJP MP Dinu Solanki and the mining mafia.

In 2002 Gujarat's Forest Department banned mining within a 5-km radius of the the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, the last remaining natural habitat of wild Asiatic lions. However TIMES NOW has accessed a document dated January 2004, two years after this ban, which shows rights to a mine being openly granted to Solanki within that area despite the ban.

There are documents which show that, following this, the Forest Department wrote complaint letters to various agencies including collectors and the adminstration demanding that the illegal mines be shut. When no action was taken, it seems the matter reached the Chief Minister, who in December last year wrote to a Congress MP saying he had ordered a probe into the larger illegal mining issue, and asked the Mines and Minerals Department to look into it.

Interestingly, TIMES NOW has a copy of a letter written a few months later in February 2010, by a hassled Mines and Minerals Department to the local police station alleging non-cooperation from the local police officials in registering their forest officers' complaint against the miners. This shows that the local police are willing to defy even the Gujarat government, to protect the interests of Solanki and the mining mafia.

Speaking to TIMES NOW in July this year, Solanki denied any role in Jethwa's murder saying the police did not have any evidence against him. "If the police has any evidence, we will see. This matter does not concern me. I won't any explanation to anyone," he said.

The Gujarat Government on August 23 placed before the High Court a report on the police investigation into the murder case in connection with Jethwa's PIL. A Division Bench of Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhaya and Justice K M Thakar included Jethwa's younger brother Bhavin and maternal uncle Vijay Rathod as petitioners in the PIL. Bhavin and Rathod had filed applications to be included as petitioners in the case after Jethwa's death.

When the matter came up for hearing, the government handed over the report, in a sealed cover, containing details of the probe conducted by the Crime Branch.
The HC asked the government to keep it updated about further developments into the case during hearing of the PIL.

Three persons, including a police constable from Junagadh, have been arrested in connection with the activist's murder. Pratap alias Shiva Solanki, nephew of BJP Lok Sabha MP from Junagadh Dinu Solanki, has also come under police scanner.

Jethwa's father Bhikabhai had alleged that Dinu Solanki was behind his son's murder, which police suspect, was linked to illegal mining activity in Gir.

Shiva Solanki , A criminal minded politician

Shiva Solanki accompanied with ahmedabad city crime branch police

Shiva alias pratap Solanki, 40 , nephew of BJP MP Dinu Solanki was president of kodinar nagar palika. He is the co-conspirator in the murder of prominent RTI and environment activist Amit Jethwa. The main conspirator BJP MP Dinu Solanki has gone underground since his nephew's name came out in this murder case. 

         Shiva and Dinu has a number of illegal mining businesses that were affected by Amit Jethwa's public interest litigations. The influential duo of kodinar region has control over local police. Amit Jethwa was attacked by duo's muscle men in 2007 and kodinar police refused to filled FIR against this duo. Concern public of saurashtra region are well known who are the real face behind this murder. Even though India is a democratic country its hard to bring powerful politician to justice.

      As seen in above picture Shiva looks like he has no regrets and thinking that his uncle is gonna save him as he is a MP from ruling party BJP.
       Pratap alias Shiva Solanki is seen a shadow of his uncle and BJP's Junagadh MP Dinu Solanki. While the MP's two sons are away from Junagadh pursuing higher education, it is Shiva who Dinu trusts the most in his business and political matters.

BJP MP Dinu Solanki's nephew held in Jethava case

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/BJP-MPs-nephew-held-in-Jethava-case/articleshow/6516292.cms

click to read Gujarati article from divyabhaskar on Shiva Solanki

Shiva Solanki under arrest

The crime branch nabbed Pratap Solanki alias Shiva Solanki, 40, nephew of BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Solanki, and suspected to be the main conspirator in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethava. Shiva is former vice-president of Kodinar taluka panchayat and was caught from Rajkot airport when he was about to board a flight to Mumbai. The MP has been underground ever since his nephew's name cropped up in the case.

This is the fourth arrest in the sensational Jethava murder case. According to crime branch officials, Shiva was wanted in the case ever since Pachan Desai alias Pachan Shiva was arrested last month. He had confirmed that the supari for the murder came from Solanki. A team, led by inspector S M Chaudhary, was in Kodinar for four days and had collected evidence against Shiva. "During our investigation, we got to know that Shiva had contacted constable Bahadursinh Vadher, one of the accused in the case, to eliminate Jethava. Shiva has a number of businesses that were affected by Jethava's public interest litigations," said Himanshu Shukla, deputy commissioner of police (crime). So far, city crime branch officials have arrested Bahadursinh Vadher, a constable with Junagadh police, Pachan Shiva, a land dealer and friend of Vadher and Sanjay Chauhan, a middleman in the case who pointed Jethava out to Shailesh Pandya, the hitman who had taken supari for Jethava's killing.

Pandya is still at large. "In the primary investigation, he has told us that when he was vicepresident of Kodinar panchayat, he was harassed by Jethava's numerous public interest litigations and RTIs. For every work and contract, he was questioned. His personal work of installing mobile towers and quarries in the district were also affected by his work. Thus, he contacted Vadher to eliminate him," said an investigator.

Jethava, an RTI and environment activist, was shot dead by Shailesh Pandya and his associate near Gujarat High Court on July 20 evening.

Amit Jethwa was a force, rare in this time

http://deshgujarat.com/2010/07/20/amit-jethwa-was-a-force-rare-in-this-time-his-murder-is-shocking/

By Japan K Pathak

Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 20 July 2010

lion-heart Amit Jethwa addressing a conference 

Point blank murder of activist Amit Jethwa is shocking news, and I am
personally shocked. Jethwa’s murder has shocked me to the level same as Haren
Pandya’s or Pankaj Trivedi’s murder.

Jethwa was amazing force by himself. I met him first time in year 2005 when
he called me for an exclusive and interesting elephant story. An elephant
with badly injured foot was treated cruelly in local circus and therefore
rescued by forest department thanks to efforts employed by Amit Jethwa.
Jethwa continued to be with the elephant till its proper relocation. After
the story published well in newspaper, Jethwa became my regular source. A
young tall well built Amit Jethwa was one single source for many journalists
like me wanting to know anything and everything about Gir forest. Jethwa was
one stop resource for any information regarding Gir forest and forest
department’s handling of affairs there. He had amazing grip over South
western Saurashtra areas, especially ecological and environment related
issues. He would SMS and inform all friend journalists when incident of wood
cutting, illegal mining, suspicious death of lion, leopard, forest fire etc
occur. We journalists use to have our own mechanism to rigorously check
whether our source is genuine or a blackmailer misusing us. Amit too passed
through this process, but every time(in year 2005 and 2006) I could sum up
that his fight against anti-environment people, corrupt establishment etc
was genuine. He once said me that he was a natural fighter. He said he had
drug shop in Una, and that was the mode of his survival. While his employees
could look after the drug store, he could spare time to do activism.

RTI(Right to information), PIL(Public interest litigation), SMS(Short
messaging service), Email were Jethwa’s tools. He had organized a nature
lovers yatra in southern Saurashtra belt. Be it about saving marine turtles,
or Chinkara, lion, leopard, tree, birds or crocodile, Jethwa was there at
service in Kutch, Saurashtra and Ahmedabad. The elephant case I referred
above originated from Bharuch in central Gujarat. Jethwa had filed cases
against Salman Khan and Aamir Khan for alleged Chinkara killings. A case
against Aamir Khan is still going on in Gujarat High Court, and every
development in this regard was informed to us through SMS.

Amit Jethwa fought an election also on his own, but lost. Jethwa shifted his
base to Ahmedabad only some months back. He called me up and invited to have
tea at his new home in Ahmedabad. I sought his guidance about how to use RTI
as tool in my profession – journalism. Since then, I was not in touch with
him,barring just incoming smses and sometime email.

Just yesterday evening, I received Amit Jethwa’s SMS in my mobile phone:
“Gir Nature Youth Club ni rajuat bad 1 mahina pahela Junagadh Jilla na
Kodinar taluka ma Gir border area na Alidar-Sanvav road par Geology ane
police joint raid ma belastone kava ni machinery sahit no mudamal 6odavi
janara par FIR. Geologist Mr. Muley(Phone number) Kodinar Police(Phone
number)”

Translation of the SMS: After Gir Nature Youth Club’s representation, FIR
has filed against those who snatched away belastone cutting machinery and
other seized material that was captured during police and geology
department’s joint raid one month back on Alidar-Sanvav road of Gir border
area in Junagadh district’s Kodinar tauka. Geologist Mr. Muley(Phone number)
Kodinar Police(Phone number).

Reading this SMS, I thought for a moment that Jethwa had gone too far and
powerful mining lobby literally ‘uncontrollable’ in Saurashtra, will not
tolerate any disturbance in their work. And today evening I heard, he has
been killed by two unidentified persons on bike near Gujarat High Court.
Jethwa was on visit to Satyamev building to meet advocate. When he came out,
there were two persons waiting for him with Bajaj Discover bike(having
scooty number). Before Jethwa sat in his Gypsy car, he was shot dead. Even
after facing bullet injury, Jethwa tried to nab the culprits. Those who
fired, fled, leaving their bike and one desi pistol there. Jethwa died on
the spot and later was taken to nearby Sola hospital. Look at the irony, the
building at which Jethwa was killed was ‘Satyamev’. Just like Haren Pandya,
and Pankaj Trivedi, Jethwa didn’t keep weapon for self protection with him.
Ahmedabad Police has found a desi pistol on the spot and some rounds some
distance away. The investigation is on, but whatever happen now, we can’t
bring Amit the activist back. Amit was irreplaceable. He was a force, rare
in this time. He was not facebook or twitter or blogger activist, he was an
activist on ground equipped with all needed tools to fight for truth. His
murder is very shocking. He could do more for Gujarat. It’s a tremendous
loss.

one right, many wrongs

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/130326/rti-one-right-many-wrongs.html

Amit Jethwa case: BJP MP's nephew arrested

http://www.timesnow.tv/BJP-MP-Dinu-Solankis-nephew-arrested/articleshow/4353265.cms

In a major development in Gujarat RTI activist Amith Jethwa's murder case, nephew of BJP MP Dinu Solanki was on Tuesday (September 7) arrested by the Ahmedabad police. Shiva Solanki was arrested from Rajkot when he was about to board an early morning flight to Mumbai today. 

The Ahmedabad crime branch was on the lookout for Shiva Solanki for weeks for the murder of the RTI activist. 

Shiva Solanki is the nephew of BJP MP Dinubhai Boghabhai Solanki and also the Chairman of BJP-ruled Kodinar municipality. 

Three other people were earlier detained by Ahmedabad police and were identified as Sanjay, Bahadur Singh and Haji Bhai. Sanjay was detained at Diu. 

Bahadur Singh is a Gujarat Police constable posted at the Gir Gadaha police station. Singh is also believed to be close to Dinubhai Boghabhai Solanki. 

Jethwa was killed on the evening of July 20 near Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad police official said that some unidentified men on a motorcycle fired at Jethwa killing him. 

Jethwa was reportedly coming out of a building after meeting his lawyer and about to enter his vehicle when he was fired upon. Even though he was hit in the abdomen by the bullets, he tried to grapple with his assailants, who fled from after leaving behind their motorcycle. 

He had filed several petitions in the Gujarat High Court against the forest department and had also filed a a public interest litigation (PIL) on the illegal mining in the Gir forests of Junagadh district which is considered the last abode of Asiatic lions in the world. Jethwa was also the president of Gir Nature Youth Club. 

RTI Gallantry Award to Mr Amit Jethwa

http://nationalrtiforum.org/Amit%20Jethwa-%20Satish%20Shetty%20RTI%20Award.htm

Amit Jethwa was an environmentalist and social worker. He did his Diploma in Pharmacy and L Lb from Saurashtra University. He was active in the Gir Forest area near Junagarh, Gujarat. With the suitable use of RTI, he had filed several court cases against illegal mining in the protected area, by which a large number of influential persons of that area, including Dinu Solanki, the BJP MP from Junagarh, were getting adversely affected. His fight against encroachment of forests and poaching had become legendary in that area. Other powerful persons against whom whom he took a stand included Salman Khan (for shooting Chinkaara) and Aamir Khan (for use of Chinkara in Lagaan). In addition, there were a large number of forest officials, including those from the Indian Forest Service against whom he campaigned vigorously against their corrupt practices. He had also campaigned against shifting of lions to the Kuno Wildlife sanctuary in MP.

Jethwa also actively pursued the provisions of the RTI Act for addressing grievances, and conducted workshops on the procedure to file requests under RTI to prevent corrupt practices and other mal-administration.

Since 2008, he had filed a number of RTI applications probing the activities of an illegal mining lobby operating in the protected forest area just outside the Gir National Park. In mid 2010, he also filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Gujarat High Court, citing evidence found through RTI naming Dinu Solanki and his several relatives, for involvement in the illegal mining in the Gir Forest.

It is for these reasons that on 20 July 2010, shortly after the case against Solanki was filed, Jethwa was shot dead by two assailants on a motorcycle near the Gujarat High Court. A few persons have been arrested so far in the murder case but Amit's father Bhikhabhai Jethwa clearly accuses Dinu Solanki for this murder. We all stand with Sri Bhikhaibhai. Through his supreme sacrifice, Amit has presented a real example of a selfless servant for the cause of humanity and nature, using the RTI to its best use.

The National RTI Forum presents the Satish Shetty RTI Gallantry award to Amit Jethwa posthumously.

Amit Jethwa, two other chosen for RTI gallantry awards

http://www.thehindu.com/news/article609546.ece

Slain Gujarat—based RTI activist Amit Jethwa has been chosen for a gallantry award instituted by a voluntary organisation working in the field of transparency.

The organisation, National RTI Forum, has instituted several gallantry awards for RTI activists who have dared the adversities to get information from government on the issues concerning larger public interest and exposing corruption in the process.

Jethwa will be given the ‘Satish Shetty Award for Gallantry’ posthumously.

The ‘Lalit Mehta Award for Gallantry’ is being given to Biswajit Mohanty who is also a wildlife activist based in Orissa. Mohanty has used the transparency law in his area of work to bring to light corruption in forest department. Through his RTI application he brought out misuse of forest vehicle case, transfer of forest rangers case, liquor shop case, Posco case and Vedanta case.

Sanjiv Chaturvedi, an Indian Forest Service Officer of 2002 batch, has been chosen for ‘Shashidhar Mishra Award for Gallantry’ Posted as DFO Hissar, Chaturvedi exposed the alleged malafide of state government in cases related to Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary, Fatehabad Herbal Park among others.

The awards themselves are being named after several prominent RTI activists from across the country who were murdered because of their activism.

Satish Shetty was from Pune while Shashidhar Mishra, locally known as ‘Khabri Lal’ was from Begusarai in Bihar.

Lalit Kumar Mehta was based in Jharkhand.

“The National RTI Forum has started these Gallantry awards in remembrance of all such RTI martyrs and shall be presenting these awards to such RTI activists who are showing a new path to the society through their sincere and brave use of RTI,” said Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer who is the brain behind the Forum.

Amit Jethwa, slain RTI activist, was under threat by a powerful politician

havey ulachase kaubhando ni khaan- DB gujarati

I reported earlier that one Amit Jethwa, a whistle blower, who had exposed corruption in illegal mining in Gir Forest in Gujarat by taking recourse to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, was murdered by some unidentified persons in the premises of Gujarat High Court. The friend of Jethwa, a lawyer of Gujarat High Court, namely Yagnik, has made startling revelations that Jathwa was under constant threat to his life by one Dinu Sonik, a member of Parliament from the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) - a political party that persecutes the minority communities in India. He has stated that Sonik was so powerful that complaints against him were ignored by the police in the past. It is also reported that Dinu Sonik is missing.

The people who expose corruption through RTI Act, have to be protected by the government authorities who disclose information to them.

If brave hearts like Amit Jethwa who wage a war against corruption in India are not protected by the custodians of law, then corruption by the powerful politicians would become the order of the day. Corrupt politicians become popular by doling out the corruption money to the poor people who do not know the "ABC" of corruption by these politicians.

BY Thangasamy Job Anbalagan