The Hindu : Haren Pandya shot dead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 27, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

Haren Pandya shot dead

By Manas Dasgupta

PTI

The body of the former Gujarat Home Minister, Haren Pandya, being taken from hospital in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

AHMEDABAD MARCH 26. The former Gujarat Minister of State for Home and Revenue, Haren Pandya, whose differences with the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, cost him the BJP Assembly ticket in the last elections, was shot dead by unknown assailants here this morning.

Mr. Pandya was fired upon as he was about to alight from his self-driven car near the posh Law Garden locality around 7.45 a.m. for his morning walk. He collapsed inside the car with no one noticing the incident as the assailants quietly left. A passerby found the wounded former Minister 45 minutes later and rushed him to the V. S. Hospital where he was pronounced dead, the Home Secretary, K. Nityanandam, said.

He said two bullets had pierced Mr. Pandya's throat, one lodged in the right shoulder and another in the stomach. From the fingerprints found in the car, police believe there were two assailants who had come in a two-wheeler and were waiting for the former Minister at the spot.

Conceding the Opposition Congress demand, Mr. Modi has requested the Centre to order an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Nityanandam said it was still too early to hazard a guess on the motives behind the killing but he ruled out the possibility of its being a "political murder".

Some police sources said the assailants could have been hired from the Mumbai underworld. Mr. Nityanandam denied there was any "threat perception" to Mr. Pandya, at least he had not informed the Government of any such threat, but claimed that it could be in the sequence of similar attacks on political leaders in Vadodara and in Ahmedabad's Naroda locality in recent months to create disturbances. Police declared a red alert in the city, sealed all escape routes and intensified checks at airports, railway stations, bus terminuses and checkposts. Tension prevailed in the city with shopkeepers in many areas, particularly in Mr. Pandya's erstwhile Ellisbridge Assembly constituency, downed the shutters .

Mr. Nityanandam said two companies of the Rapid Action Force were deployed in the city apprehending disturbances but that the situation remained under control. No untoward incident had been reported from any part of the city or the State except an incident of stonethrowing in Paldi where Mr. Pandya's residence is located.

A large number of Mr. Pandya's supporters, who had gathered in front of the V. S. hospital, booed and jeered the Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, when he reached the hospital. They also raised anti-Modi slogans alleging that his differences with the Chief Minister had cost him his life.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Elite Iraqi troops to take on Marines

War update

Haren Pandya shot dead

Sachin, Amitabh in Billionaires Club

'Prithvi' test-fired

Jammu blast kills 1

HC rejects extension to excavation