RAJKOT: The Gondal additional sessions court on Thursday sentenced two persons to life imprisonment and acquitted 11 other in connection with a 2003 murder case. Ramji Marakana alias Ramlo and Haresh Chothani were awarded life sentence for murder of Vikramsinh Rana on the night of May 13, 2003. Slain BJP leader Vinu Shingala was the key conspirator of the crime.The murder was the result of a land dispute. Rana used to cultivate a plot of land which belonged to Gunadeetsinh Jadeja of Gondal royal family. Rana had moved the court against Jadeja, demanding the possession of the land, on grounds that as he used to do farming there, the land should belong to him as per the the law of ownership under Agriculture Tenancy Act.Meanwhile, Jadeja sold the plot to Lalji Savalia who sold it to Vinu Shingala. When Shingala sought to include his name into the ownership documents in the revenue records, Rana sent an application to the office, raising objection to the entry of Shingala’s name, citing the ongoing case between him and Jadeja. Following this, Shingala’s name was not entered into the record.Nursing a grudge against Rana, Shingala sent his men after him. On the fateful night of May 13, 2003, when Rana was driving his relative Rajeshri Jadeja in his car to her aunt’s home in Gondal SRP camp, Marakana, Chothani and their 14 accomplices intercepted Rana’s car on Kotada Sangani Road in Gondal, dragged Rana out of the car and attacked him with swords, scythes and iron pipes. While Rana was killed on the spot, Rajeshri was injured in the attack. Rajeshri became the complainant in the case.Police arrested all 16 accused including Shingala, Marakana and Chothani. While the case was being heard in the Gondal additional sessions court, Shingala was murdered on March 19, 2004, Lalji Sidhpara and Kanji Vekaria died natural deaths. While Sidhpara died last year, Vekaria had died 10 years ago. After the DNA test of Rana’s blood found on the clothes of the accused who had discarded them in a farm and Rajeshri’s deposition as the eyewitness, the court found Marakana and Chothani guilty and sentenced them to life in prison.However, the court acquitted the 11 accused in the case for want of evidence.

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