Series - The Haren Pandya Murder Investigation

Three men in a room laughing. One of them is a policeman

Two Prime Ministers and a Cop. Photo: DG Vanzara's Twitter Timeline

Old picture of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and India's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi with notorious Gujarat policeman DG Vanzara

Man in Blue shirt against a dark background

Dead Man Talking. Photo Credit: The Wire

Haren Pandya, former Gujarat home minister and early rival of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who was assasinated in broad daylight , in the middle of the state's capital in 2003

Three policemen sitting on a table with some accused standing behind them

Last Man Alive. Photo Credit: TV 18

Asgar Ali from Hyderabad (in blue checked shirt at the back) was the prime accused in the murder of Haren Pandya. But his name appeared on the crime scene site plan two days after the murder, weeks before anyone had named him as hired assasin. Photo Credit: TV 18

Men Who Knew Too Much

A witness testified in open court that Sohrabuddin (left) had confessed that he had arranged Pandya's murder on Gujarat Cop DG Vanzara's say so. On the right - Tulsiram Prajapati, Sohrab's cohort who ultimately led Gujarat cops to Sohrab's doorstep. Both were killed in police encounters in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

On the left, a man in his thirties wearing a white shirt posing for a photograph standing behind his Indian wife who is wearing a sari. On the right, an older man in a dark blue shirt and glasses, an orange beard, half-way out of a car

The hunter and the hunted

Gujarat gangster Sohrabuddin with his wife Kausar on the left. With Gujarat Cop DG Vanzara who confessed to Sohrab's killing on Twitter, the day after he was acquitted by a Special CBI Judge. No action was taken on his confession.

Haren Pandya had been an RSS man all his life. He grabbed the party's attention as an LD Engineering student protestor during the Nav Nirman agitation in the 1974 that led to Jay Prakash Naryan’s ‘Total Revolution, the Emergency and a new phase in Indian Politics.

In the '80s he rose from corporator to MLA and in 1998 became the BJP's home minister in Keshubhai Patel's ministry. He was Gujarat BJP's unequivocal rising star till Narendra Modi was sent from Delhi as chief minister in October 2001, to quell dissidence in the state’s BJP unit.

The RSS strongman had never fought an election before, but to remain CM he needed to enter the assembly as an MLA within six months. Looking for a sure-shot victory, he asked Haren Pandya to vacate his Ellis Bridge seat for him. Pandya refused. He’d been nursing that constituency since 1985. Modi scraped through from Rajkot II – a constituency even Keshubhai Patel had once lost from. In the clash of egos that followed, only one man remained standing in the end, and Alive.

That murder, changed India’s history.

Part 3 - Sohrabuddin: Even When the Accused Cop Admits to Murder, there is No Justice

Sarita Rani

Jan 6, 20194 min read

Part 3 - Sohrabuddin: Even When the Accused Cop Admits to Murder, there is No Justice

Hours after a judgement acquitting him, Gujarat cop DG Vanzara confessed to the killing on Twitter. He faced no immediate repercussions.

Part 2 - Did the CBI Even Investigate Ex-Gujarat Home Minister, Haren Pandya's Murder?

Sarita Rani

Nov 7, 20187 min read

Part 2 - Did the CBI Even Investigate Ex-Gujarat Home Minister, Haren Pandya's Murder?

The bullets from Pandya’s body did not match those presented in court. Does the CBI’s evidence match its claims?

Part 1 - New Evidence, Old Lies on the Murder of Haren Pandya, Modi's Early Rival

Sarita Rani

Nov 6, 20187 min read

Part 1 - New Evidence, Old Lies on the Murder of Haren Pandya, Modi's Early Rival

A witness testifies in open court that Sohrabuddin was responsible for Pandya’s murder and the contract was given by Gujarat cop DG Vanzara

The truth may not set you free, but it will keep you sane

Indian Outpost

Series - The Haren Pandya Murder Investigation

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