In a significant judicial turn, the Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced two individuals, including former MLA Munna Shukla, to life imprisonment for their involvement in the 1998 murder of Brij Bihari Prasad, a former minister from Bihar. This ruling partially overturns a prior decision by the Patna High Court which had acquitted all the accused.
The apex court’s bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan, found Munna Shukla and another accused, Mantu Tiwari, guilty under charges of murder (IPC Section 302) and attempt to murder (IPC Section 307). The court ordered them to surrender within 15 days to serve their life sentences.
This decision comes as a response to an appeal filed by former BJP MP Rama Devi, the widow of the slain minister, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), challenging the High Court’s 2014 acquittal of the accused due to insufficient evidence.
While the Supreme Court affirmed the life sentences for Tiwari and Shukla, it upheld the High Court’s decision to acquit six other individuals, including former MP Surajbhan Singh, citing a lack of substantial evidence against them.
The 1998 case has been marked by numerous legal battles, with the trial court originally convicting the accused in 2009 and sentencing them to life imprisonment. However, this was set aside by the High Court in 2014, granting them the benefit of the doubt after reviewing the prosecution’s evidence.
