Ballia (Uttar Pradesh): A court in Ballia on Monday issued non-bailable warrants against four accused, including former Uttar Pradesh minister and BJP leader Anand Swaroop Shukla, after they failed to appear before it in a nine-year-old case relating to murder attempt on a student leader.
Along with issuing non-bailable warrants for the fourth time on Monday, the court also directed issuance of notices to their sureties and ordered the police to arrest all the accused. Student leader Sudhir Ojha's counsel Dinesh Tiwari said the four accused, including former minister and BJP leader Shukla, did not appear in the local MP/MLA court of the Special Justice Hussain Ahmed Ansari.
On behalf of Shukla, his advocate Rajendra Tripathi told the court that the accused will be produced for which time should be given. The court said no report has been received from the police station on the non-bailable warrant issued against the accused and termed this act of the police station incharge as highly objectionable.
On Monday, for the fourth time, the court ordered non-bailable warrants against all the four accused including former minister Shukla and notices to those who had given their surety. The court will now hear the matter on January 2, Tiwari said. On December 2, the court had issued NBW against five accused, including Shukla, for the first time and had set the date of hearing on December 5, rejecting the application for attendance waiver filed by the five accused.
On December 5, the court, rejecting the request to postpone the execution of the NBW through an application submitted by the BJP leader, ordered the in-charge of Ballia city police station to arrest the accused and present them before the court, fixing the date of next hearing in this case on December 13.
Meanwhile, an accused in the case, Avinash Singh, was arrested by the police. The accused did not appear in the court on December 13 and after this, the court had issued the non-bailable warrant for the third time. The MP MLA Court, in its decision on November 22, made the five accused, including BJP leader Shukla, punishable under sections 307 (assault with intent to kill) and 149 (unlawful crime committed by a public group) of the Indian Penal Code. Student leader Sudhir Ojha had filed a case against the five accused for attempted murder with a knife on January 15, 2013 at Satish Chandra Mahavidyalaya in Kotwali area of Ballia city. (PTI)
