Book on seven interconnected "political" murders, including Haren Pandya, Justice Loya, released

By A Representative
A controversial new book in Hindi, ‘Satta ki Suli’, with an account on CBI judge BH Loya’s death case, released in Ahmedabad, has sought to cover not only the alleged murder of the judge but also a series of seven other "political murders".
The book, authored by Mahendra Mishra, Pradeep Singh and Upendra Chowdhary, starts with the murder of ex-Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya and gangster Sohrabuddin and his wife Kasuar Bi, witness Tusliram Prajapti, followed by that of judge Loya and two others, advocate Shrikant Khandalkar and retired judge Prakash Thrombay.
Earlier released in Delhi, speaking during a similar ceremony in Ahmedabad, Mishra, who is editor of the web portal "Jan Chowk", said that it was remarkable, the book was being released at a time when freedom of expression was under threat. Criticising "Caravan", the e-magazine which first broke Loya's death, Mishra said, it failed to continue with required follow-ups as it was brought under " immense pressure".
"We in the book have not said anything on our own", said Mishra. "We have instead depended on available documents." Criticising a section of the media for failing to find a link between these murders, Mishra said, "At an appropriate time we will raise the issues highlighted in the book in respective forums and institutions."
Others who spoke on the occasion included former Gujarat topcop Rajan Priyadarshi, well-known literary critic Prakash N Shah and activist Kalim Siddiqui. Available on amazon.in, those who have written introductions to the book are former justice BG Kolse-Patil, and Supreme Court advocates Prashant Bhushan and Indira Jaising.

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