Ex-teacher nabbed for killing Guj RTI activist

V Narayan; TNN, Nov 17, 2010,

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch arrested a 36-year-old former school teacher for allegedly killing a Gujarat-based RTI activist in July this year and fleeing from the state. Gujarat resident Shailesh Pandya was held at CST Road in Kurla (West) on Tuesday and found carrying a country-made pistol, a revolver and seven cartridges. During interrogation, Pandya said that he fled after a Gujarat-based police constable Bahadur Singh paid him Rs 6 lakh to eliminate RTI activist Amit Jetwa who was reportedly chasing Singh to unearth his illegal quarry business in Ahmedabad.

The official said that Pandya was in dire need of money when Singh approached him with the contract sum to kill Jetwa. He was shot from a point range near Ahmedabad high court on July 21, 2010. "Pandya later fled from Gujarat and hid in different cities. He landed in Mumbai 15 days ago. He claimed to have come to Mumbai in search of a job. However, we are not buying into his theory," said Kurla crime branch (Unit V) senior inspector R S Agarwal.

Acting on a tip-off, Agarwal led the team of assistant inspector Somnath Guge, assistant sub-inspector Ishwar Mane and two police naiks and nabbed Pandya who was found moving about suspiciously on CST Road. During the probe, the sleuths learnt that the Gujarat police had been searching for Pandya since a year in connection with Jetwa's murder. Pandya was also involved in an attempt-to-murder case in 2008. He has been booked under the Arms Act and will be handed over to the Gujarat police.