A CBI court today granted bail to accused Shiva Solanki, a nephew of former BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Solanki, in RTI activist Amit Jethwa's murder case, on the ground of parity.



Special CBI Court Judge Utkarsh Desai granted regular bail to Shiva accepting the defence argument that co-accused and former MP Dinu Solanki got bail from the Supreme Court and on the ground of "parity," he also should be released.



On behalf of Shiva, advocate Mitesh Amin contended that one of the co-accused was released by the Supreme Court, while the applicant (Shiva), who allegedly played a similar role in a murder case, was still behind bars.



As per the charge sheet of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the role of Shiva was not larger than the role of Dinu Solanki, he told the court.



Though CBI had opposed the bail plea saying that Shiva Solanki had played a major role because he had allegedly hatched the murder conspiracy, the court considered the ground of "parity" and ordered that Shiva, who had been behind bars for around four years, be released on a personal bond of Rs 5 lakhs.



On February 25, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Dinu Solanki while considering the fact that the probe agency had submitted a supplementary charge sheet and that the trial was likely to take a long time.



RTI activist Amit Jethwa was shot dead on July 20, 2010, in front of the Gujarat High Court in the city's Sola area. (More)



Jethwa was instrumental in exposing corruption by filing



numerous RTI applications and a public interest litigation (PIL) against illegal mining in the Gir forest region in Gujarat.



Jethwa's family had alleged Junagadh BJP MP Dinu Solanki's involvement in the murder.



The murder case was first probed by the Gujarat police which gave a "clean chit" to Dinu Solanki.



However, after a petition by the deceased RTI activist's father Bhikhu Jethwa, the Gujarat High Court had handed over the probe to CBI.



Last year, CBI had filed the charge sheet and named Dinu Solanki and five others, including Shiva, as accused for the murder as well as criminal conspiracy.