Amin Solkar removed from SPP post in Sandeep Gadoli encounter trial

Solkar said he received an email from the state law and judiciary department informing him about the cancellation

Mumbai: Over five years after he was appointed special public prosecutor (SPP) in the trial in the alleged fake encounter of gangster Sandeep Gadoli in 2016, the state government earlier this week removed lawyer Amin Solkar from the case at a time when the case was reserved for judgement. The move comes seven months after a sessions court rejected Solkar’s plea to arraign four more Haryana police officers as accused in the case.

Mumbai - 19th October 2010 - 26/11 Ajmal Kasab Death sentence on hearing case in Kasab video conference in present from Arthur Road Jail but today his demand hearing have will arrival High Court. Today his Video Conferencing time his spit on camera and demand meet loyer on his loyer Amin Solkar told his calleege meet today in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai on Tuesday 19th October 2010 - Photo by Sandeep Mahankal (Hindustan Times)

Solkar was appointed special public prosecutor in the case on December 15, 2020. A notification issued by the state law and judiciary department on February 11 stated: “In view of the recommendation received from Home Department, the Government of Maharashtra hereby cancels the appointment of Advocate Amin M Solkar as “Special Public Prosecutor” for conducting the case in Sessions Court, Mumbai and Hon’ble High Court, Mumbai….”

Solkar said he received an email from the state law and judiciary department informing him about the cancellation. “I am not aware why my appointment has been cancelled at this stage when the judgement is reserved. It is something that no one can understand,” Solkar said on Saturday. Asked if his plea to make four more Haryana police officers accused in the case was the reason behind his removal, Solkar said, “Maybe it did not go down well.”

The case pertains to the killing of Sandeep Gadoli, a notorious gangster from Haryana, who was shot dead in a hotel near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, by a team of officers from the Haryana Police. While an offence was registered at the MIDC police station, the case was investigated by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. Eight people including police officers, Gadoli’s alleged girlfriend and former model Divya Pahuja and her mother, were named as accused in the case. Pahuja was later shot dead in January, 2024 in Gurugram, months after she was released on bail.

A few months ago, Solkar had sought the court’s permission to add four more officers of the Haryana police including a deputy commissioner of police, as co-accused in the case. Solkar argued that during the trial, testimonies of four key witnesses pointed to the involvement of the officers in a larger conspiracy to eliminate Gadoli. His application was, however, rejected by the trial court.

Solkar charged no legal fee for his appearance in the case, as stated in his appointment letter from the law and judiciary department in 2020. “Adv. Amin M Solkar will be conducting the trial free of cost for the state, hence there will be no claim of any fees from the government on his part,” the letter read.

Solkar, a criminal lawyer with a practice of 40 years, has earlier represented several accused in high profile criminal cases and was also appointed by the court to defend Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist tried in Mumbai for the 26/11 terror attack of 2008.

Advocate Umang Shah who assisted Solkar in the case of Gadoli’s killing, said that he had appeared in the case through Covid-19 in 2021, examined 43 prosecution witnesses and defended the state’s case against the accused right up to the Supreme Court. However, he said that after Solkar moved the application to add four more officers from Haryana as accused in the case, the state government’s decision to cancel his appointment did not come as a surprise.