Today, On 3rd October, The Supreme Court sentenced two individuals to life imprisonment in connection with the 1998 murder case of a former Bihar minister. The verdict comes after years of legal proceedings in the high-profile case. The convicted individuals were found guilty of their involvement in the minister’s killing.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Thursday, sentenced two individuals, including former MLA Munna Shukla, to life imprisonment in connection with the 1998 murder of former Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan partially overturned a 2014 Patna High Court decision that acquitted all the accused. The Supreme Court ordered Shukla and Mantu Tiwari, another convict, to surrender within 15 days.
However, the court upheld the acquittal of six other individuals, including former MP Surajbhan Singh, due to insufficient evidence.
The bench stated that while charges under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were proven against Shukla and Tiwari, there was reasonable doubt concerning the involvement of the other accused. As a result, they were granted the benefit of the doubt, in line with the Patna High Court’s earlier judgment.
The case dates back to June 13, 1998, when Brij Bihari Prasad, the then-Bihar Minister for Science and Technology, gunned down at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna. Prasad was under police protection at the time, receiving medical treatment. The murder linked to his strong stance against organized crime in Bihar, making him a target of political and criminal factions. His assassination caused widespread shock, given his prominence in the state’s political landscape and his efforts to combat corruption.
In 2009, a trial court convicted Munna Shukla, Mantu Tiwari, and several others, sentencing them to life imprisonment for their roles in the murder. However, in 2014, the Patna High Court acquitted all the accused, citing a lack of conclusive evidence.
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The High Court, after reviewing the prosecution’s evidence, ruled that individuals such as Surajbhan Singh, Mukesh Singh, Lallan Singh, Captain Sunil Singh, and others deserved the benefit of the doubt and set aside the convictions.
Following this, Brij Bihari Prasad’s wife, former BJP MP Rama Devi, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenged the High Court’s acquittal in the Supreme Court. In its recent verdict, the Supreme Court upheld the convictions of Munna Shukla and Mantu Tiwari, reinstating the life sentences against them.
The apex court’s decision brings some closure to a long-running legal battle while affirming the acquittals of the remaining accused due to insufficient evidence.