Gujarat High Court on Monday dropped murder charges against the 12 accused in the killing of former minister Haren Pandya eight years ago.The Court while acquitting the 12 persons of the murder charges however upheld the trial court's decision to convict them for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.Pandya, who was a former minister of state for home in a BJP government and was once close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was shot dead on March 26, 2003 when he was out for a morning walk. According to CBI, Pandya was murdered to avenge the 2002 communal riots.Special public prosecutor J M Panchal said that all the 12 accused except key conspirator Mohammad Asgar Ali are likely to be released from jail as they had been behind bars since 2003 as far as Pandya murder case was concerned. Ali will be in prison for some more time.The division bench of justices D H Waghela and J C Upadhyaya came down heavily on CBI, terming its investigation as botched up and blinkered that left a lot to be desired.Reacting to the verdict, state government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas expressed the hope that that CBI will ensure that real culprits are brought to the book and the matter is appropriately taken up at the level of highest court. The CBI on Monday decided to challenge the verdict of Gujarat High Court in Haren Pandya case in the Supreme Court.AIR correspondent quoting official sources reports that a decision in this regard was taken on Monday at a meeting of senior officials of the agency in New Delhi. In the meeting it was decided that a Special Leave Petition will be filed in the apex court after going through detailed analysis of the High Court verdict.