1998 Ex-Bihar Minister Murder: SC Sentences 2 To Life Imprisonment

The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced two individuals, including former MLA Munna Shukla, to life imprisonment for the 1998 murder of former Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R. Mahadevan partially overturned the Patna High Court’s decision, which had acquitted all accused. The court ordered Shukla and co-convict Mantu Tiwari to surrender within 15 days.

The Supreme Court, however, upheld the acquittal of six other accused, including ex-MP Surajbhan Singh, citing insufficient evidence. The bench confirmed that the charges of murder (Section 302 IPC) and attempted murder (Section 307 IPC) were proven against Shukla and Tiwari, but gave the benefit of the doubt to the others.

Back in 2014, the Patna High Court had overturned a 2009 trial court ruling that had convicted Shukla, Tiwari, and others, sentencing them to life in prison. The high court had acquitted all the accused due to a lack of conclusive evidence, stating that Surajbhan Singh, Mukesh Singh, Lallan Singh, and others “deserve grant of benefit of doubt.”

The case resurfaced after former BJP MP Rama Devi, the widow of Brij Bihari Prasad, and the CBI challenged the 2014 acquittal in the Supreme Court.

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