Arrested suspects have named Dinu Solanki?s nephew Shiva for the ‘contract killing’, say cops

Junagadh MP Dinu Solanki’s nephew Shiva Solanki has come under the scanner in connection with the July 20 killing of RTI activist Amit Jethava, with Ahmedabad Crime Branch officials camping now at Kodinar following leads from the interrogation of arrested suspects.

A day after bootlegger Shiva Pachan’s arrest, he and arrested constable Bahadursinh Wadher reportedly confessed that Jethava was killed at the behest of Shiva Solanki, said police.

“Wadher had said he was in touch with Shiva Solanki who was Kodinar municipality’s vice-president. Shiva was angry after by Jethava’s objection to illegal installation of cellphone towers in Kodinar municipality. This led to the murder,” a Crime Branch officer said.

“Shiva Pachan met Shiva Solanki during his parole to discuss the execution of Jethava’s killing. Solanki’s arrest could take place anytime as suspects have named him,” sources said.

When contacted, investigating officer S M Chaudhary, who was at Kodinar, refused to comment on Shiva Solanki. “Our team is probing the leads given to us by Pachan and Wadher,” he said.

Last Monday, the Crime Branch had arrested constable Wadher, posted in Girgadhada police station in Junagadh district, in connection with Jethava’s murder.

Pachan Shiva (28), one of the two motorcycle-borne assailants who had allegedly shot Jethava, was arrested on Wednesday. According to police, Wadher had given the contract of killing Jethava to Pachan Shiva and one Shailesh Pandya, a sharpshooter who is still at large.

Both Shiva and Pandya had allegedly come on a motorcycle and shot Jethava from close range when he was coming out of his lawyer’s office near the Gujarat High Court on July 20. Police said the two were promised Rs 11 lakh by Wadher for killing Jethava.

Shiva is shadow of uncle Dinu Solanki
Pratap alias Shiva Solanki (35) is seen as a shadow of his uncle Dinu Solanki, the BJP MP from Junagadh. Shiva oversees his uncle’s mining and other businesses. Dinu Solanki’s two sons are away from Junagadh pursuing higher education.

At present, Shiva is the vice-president of Kodinar Nagarpalika while his mother Motiben is the president. Shiva runs a local cable network at Kodinar and is a partner in his uncle’s mining and transport business run under the umbrella of Rajmoti Transport.

Jethava had alleged that despite cancellation of lease, the mining work at Pichvi village site was on. Through RTI applications, Jethava had proved that electricity connection at the site, which was in name of Shiva, was running till February 2010.

Besides, the Solankis also had had to give away the possession of newly constructed community hall when Jethava proved that property was constructed through grants from Centre and state governments and meant for public use and that no private party can possess that.

Besides, Nagarpalika had served a notice to Shiva to remove all the cellphone towers after Jethava proved that those were illegally installed. Shiva had got a contract to install those towers to facilitate network and he allegedly used public properties to do that.