The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a significant verdict in the 1998 murder case of former Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad, sentencing criminal-turned-politician Vijay Kumar Shukla, also known as Munna Shukla, and another individual to life imprisonment. The apex court overturned the Patna High Court’s previous decision, which had acquitted all the accused.
In a judgment that partially set aside the lower court’s ruling, a bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan directed Munna Shukla, a former MLA, and Mantu Tiwari to surrender within 15 days. However, the Supreme Court provided the benefit of the doubt to five other individuals, including former MP Surajbhan Singh, upholding their acquittal.
The case, which involves the murder of Brij Bihari Prasad—an influential OBC leader and the husband of former BJP MP Rama Devi—at a hospital in Patna, has been a point of contention and speculation over police and political involvement for years. Prasad was gunned down by Gorakhpur-based gangster Sri Prakash Shukla and others, an event that significantly impacted law enforcement in both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Detailing the convictions, the Supreme Court bench declared, “The charge under section 302 (murder) read with section 34 of the IPC against Mantu Tiwari and Vijay Kumar Shukla for the murders of Brij Bihari Prasad and his bodyguard Lakshmeshwar Sahu is proven and established beyond reasonable doubt.” They added that the convictions for attempted murder under section 307 read with section 34 of the IPC were also unequivocally proven.
Both Shukla and Tiwari have been ordered to undergo life imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each. Additionally, they face rigorous imprisonment for five years along with another fine for the attempted murder charges. The sentences are to run concurrently, with further imprisonment of six months each if the fines are not paid.
The directive for the duo to surrender to jail authorities within two weeks underscores the court’s intent to ensure compliance without delay. Failure to surrender will lead to enforced arrest as per legal protocols.
Two other accused in the case, Bhupendra Nath Dubey and Captain Sunil Singh, passed away during the lengthy judicial proceedings, adding another layer of complexity to this long-standing legal battle.
