High Court directs Gujarat government to take call on remission plea of Haren Pandya murder convict

The Gujarat High Court has directed the State government to take a decision within six months on a remission plea filed by Mohammad Ashgar Ali, a convict serving a life sentence in the 2003 murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya.

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Justice M.R. Mengdey, in an order passed on June 17, disposed of Ali’s petition after noting that the process for considering his premature release was already underway and that the opinion of the advisory committee had been received by the authorities.

Ali, a native of Hyderabad who was identified by investigators as the shooter in the case, had approached the High Court alleging that the State government had failed to take a decision on his application for remission submitted in 2025 after completing 14 years of imprisonment. He contended that his conduct in jail had been satisfactory and that his case merited consideration for premature release.

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Observing that the remission process was in progress, the court directed the competent authority to take an appropriate decision in accordance with law “as expeditiously as possible”, preferably within six months from the date of receipt of the order.

Pandya was shot dead in Ahmedabad on March 26, 2003, while sitting in his car. The case was later investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which concluded that the murder was carried out as revenge for the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.

Ali was among 18 persons charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). A special CBI court convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2007.

In 2019, the Gujarat High Court acquitted all the accused, including Ali. However, the Supreme Court subsequently set aside the acquittal order on the CBI’s appeal and directed the convicts to surrender and serve the remainder of their sentences.

(With inputs from PTI)