New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Prabhunath Singh in a double murder case of 1995. The apex court reversed Prabhunath Singh’s acquittal by the Patna High Court.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath convicted Prabhunath Singh, a three-term Janata Dal (United) and one-time RJD MP from Maharajganj, in the double murder case. The apex court noted that there was sufficient evidence to show he murdered Rajendra Rai, 18, and Daroga Rai, 47, near a polling booth in Chhapra in March 1995.
In December 2008, a Patna court acquitted Prabhunath Singh citing lack of evidence and his acquittal was upheld by the Patna High Court in 2012. The apex court reversed the High Court’s decision. Rajendra Rai’s brother moved the apex court challenging Prabhunath Singh’s acquittal.
The top court noted that everything was going as per the plan and wish of the main accused Prabhunath Singh, a political leader and a sitting Member of Parliament at the relevant time as he had mustered full support of the administration and the investigating agency.
He had influenced and won over almost all the witnesses of fact mentioned in the chargesheet (who were declared hostile), the relevant formal witnesses including the investigating officer were not produced in the trial by the prosecution, the public prosecutor prosecuting the case was supporting the defence, the presiding officers were completely insensitive towards their pious duty. "But everything turned upside down when he committed a glaring mistake and that one mistake cost him heavily. He got the court witness, Lalmuni Devi, mother of deceased Rajendra Rai abducted ten days before the date fixed for recording her statement”, said Justice Nath, who authored the 143-page judgment on behalf of the bench.
The dying declaration and the statement of Devi fully established that it was Prabhunath Singh, who had caused the injuries from his firearm weapon, which proved to be fatal for two out of the three injured and also caused injury to the third surviving injured, namely Devi. The bench said Devi’s statement is found to be reliable, and the courts below wrongly discarded it on the ground that it was hearsay and tutored.
“The tainted investigation shows the highhandedness of the accused-Respondent no.2, who was a powerful person, being a sitting M.P. of the Ruling Party”, said Justice Nath.
Justice Nath further said, “We have noticed that the three main stakeholders in a criminal trial, namely the Investigating Officer that is the part of the police of the State of Bihar, the Public Prosecutor, and the Judiciary, have all utterly failed to keep up their respective duties and responsibilities cast upon them”. He said this court time and again has commented upon the failure of the major stakeholders in the criminal delivery system.
The bench said in the present case, the state machinery and the trial court failed to ensure a fair trial from the perspective of the victim side. The bench said, “As we are dealing with this case as an ‘exceptionally painful episode of our Criminal Justice System’, we have already taken judicial notice of the judgement passed by the High Court in the Habeas Corpus petition for drawing an adverse inference against the subsequent conduct of the accused of the trial in question, it’s Public Prosecutor, Police Administration and the Presiding Officer of the Trial Court as provided under Section 8 of the Evidence Act”.
The top court directed the Secretary, Department of Home, State of Bihar and the Director General of Police, Bihar to ensure Prabhunath Singh is taken into custody forthwith and produced before this court to be heard on the question of sentence in view of Section 235 CrPC. The apex court listed the matter again on September 1, 2023.
Rajendra Rai and Daroga Rai were shot dead because they did not vote as per Prabhunath Singh’s suggestion. The High Court had transferred the case from Chhapra after the kin of the deceased alleged that witnesses were being threatened and influenced. Prabhunath Singh is undergoing life imprisonment in another murder case.
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