NEW DELHI, Aug 18: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the acquittal order of the Patna High Court and held the former RJD member of the Lok Sabha from Maharajganj in Bihar Prabhunath Singh guilty of double murder in 1995.
The apex court has asked the Bihar police chief and the government chief secretary to arrange for physically producing Prabhunath Singh in the court on September 1, when the order on the quantum of sentence would be pronounced. Prabhunath Singh is currently serving life imprisonment in connection with another murder case.
Two men — Rajendra Rai and Daroga Rai — were shot dead in Chhapra because they did not vote as per Singh’s order during assembly elections on August 23, 1995. The case was moved from Chhapra to Patna when the victims’ family members claimed that witnesses were being intimidated and coerced. In December 2008, a Patna court cleared Prabhunath Singh of all charges due to a lack of evidence. The Patna High Court had also upheld Prabhunath Singh’s acquittal in 2012.
The top court, however, found Prabhunath Singh guilty and set aside the acquittal order. “Other accused were acquitted while Prabhunath Singh has been found guilty by the SC. The DGP and Chief Secretary of Bihar have been asked to present Prabhunath Singh physically in the court on September 1,” Abhay Kumar, the victim’s lawyer, told reporters outside the court.
Prabhunath Singh is in jail serving life sentence. He, along with his two brothers, was in 2017 sentenced to life in prison after a two-decade trial in the murder of former Janata Dal lawmaker Ashok Singh in 1995.
Ashok Singh’s wife had asked for the trial to be held on neutral ground in Jharkhand, instead of Bihar. Ashok Singh had defeated Prabhunath Singh in the Bihar assembly polls in 1995. He was killed in a blast at his official home in Patna soon after. Prabhunath Singh had allegedly said Ashok Singh would be eliminated within 90 days of the election.
“My brother had defeated Prabhunath Singh in 1995. Prabhunath had openly said my brother will be killed within 90 days of becoming a legislator and was killed on the 90th day,” Tarkeshwar Singh, Ashok Singh’s brother, had said.
Prabhunath Singh, considered to be a strongman of Maharajganj, was in the Janata Dal in 1995 and later joined Janata Dal-United (JD-U) of Nitish Kumar before finally going to the RJD.
(Manas Dasgupta)