SC finds ex-RJD Lok Sabha MP guilty in double murder case, reverses acquittal
A trial court in 2017 found Prabhunath Singh guilty in connection with the murder of legislator Ashok Singh, who defeated him in the 1995 Bihar assembly poll
The Supreme Court on Friday held Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Prabhunath Singh guilty in a double murder case of 1995, reversing his acquittal.
Singh is undergoing life imprisonment in another murder case. A trial court in 2017 found him guilty in connection with the 1995 murder of legislator Ashok Singh, who defeated Prabhunath Singh in the 1995 Bihar assembly poll. Prabhunath Singh had threatened to eliminate him within 90 days of the election.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath convicted Prabhunath Singh, a three-term Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) and one-time RJD MP from Maharajganj, in the double murder case saying there is sufficient evidence to show he murdered Rajendra Rai, 18, and Daroga Rai, 47, near a polling booth in Chhapra in March 1995.
The two were shot dead because they did not vote as per Singh’s suggestion. The Patna high court transferred the case from Chhapra after the kin of those killed alleged that witnesses were being threatened and influenced. A Patna court in December 2008 acquitted Prabhunath Singh citing lack of evidence. The Patna high court upheld the acquittal in 2012. Rajendra Rai’s brother challenged the acquittal in the Supreme Court.
“We set aside the impugned order of the Patna high court and convict respondent no 2...Prabhunath Singh, under Section 302 (murder) for the murders of Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai. We direct the home secretary of...Bihar and the director general of police of the state to arrest Prabhunath Singh and produce him before this court in custody on the next date of hearing to be heard on [the] argument of [the] sentence,” said Justice Nath, reading out the operative part of the judgment.
The court affirmed the acquittal of six other co-accused and fixed September 1 as the next date to hear Singh on the quantum of sentence. The punishment for murder can either be a life term or a death sentence.
Prabhunath Singh joined Janata Dal in 1995. He later became a member of JD(U) before joining RJD in 2010 after falling out with chief minister Nitish Kumar.
