Former MLA Udai Bhan, five others acquitted in 2003 murder case

A special CBI court in Delhi Saturday acquitted former Uttar Pradesh MLA Udai Bhan Singh and five others accused of hatching a conspiracy and murdering a man in Sant Ravidas Nagar district of the state in 2003. The court of special CBI Judge Parveen Singh said the CBI had failed to prove any of the circumstantial evidence against the accused persons.

“Out of 12 circumstances, the prosecution has failed to prove 11 and has only succeeded in establishing that Udai Bhan Singh may have had possible motive to kill Rakesh Kumar Pandey,” the judge said in a 109-page order while acquitting the accused. The court also said that the evidence of the “conspiracy being allegedly hatched from inside the jail” had been based on “hearsay”. Udai Bhan and nine others were arraigned as accused in the murder of Pandey during a “gangwar” in Gopiganj city of Sant Ravidas Nagar district in 2003.

While three accused — Santosh Kumar Singh, Vinod Kumar Singh and Bashir Khan — died during pendency of trial another, Kallu, was declared a proclaimed offender. CBI had submitted chargsheet against nine persons, including the former MLA in the case. According to the CBI, Pandey was a key witnesses in the Vakil Shukla triple murder case in which the former MLA was a main accused. Pandey was allegedly killed after attempts to sway him from testifying as a prosecution witness failed.

According to the prosecution, Udai Bhan, who was in Gyanpur Jail at the time, hatched a conspiracy and Pandey was shot dead in an attack on his house on 17 February, 2003. The case was transferred to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh by the Supreme Court on March 28, 2008 on the ground that fair trial was not possible in the state against the accused.

The court found several lapses in the investigation conducted by the CBI in the case, including the fact that a witness had “incorrectly identified” a picture of one of the witnesses in the case as one of the accused. “CBI also did not bother to examine the alleged informer,” the court said. The court also acquitted five others- Sandeep Singh, Ashok Mishra, Raj Nath Mishra, Mabud Khan and Vishal Singh — of the charges of criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and intimidation.

Currently serving life sentence in the Shukla murder case, Udai Bhan has been lodged in Fatehgarh jail in Uttar Pradesh for over 10 years.

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Source:Indianexpress