Patna: The Indian Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to Bihar health minister Tej Pratap Yadav in connection with the murder of a local journalist, Rajdep Ranjan, asking him to explain how an alleged shooter wanted in this case was spotted with him. Yadav is the elder son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad who himself has been convicted in multimillion dollar fodder scam.
The issuance of notice has come as a big setback for the RJD chief now trying hard to settle his children in politics after himself being disqualified from contesting elections for his conviction in the fodder scam. Prasad whose RJD is a coalition partner in the ruling Nitish Kumar government in Bihar is an accused in at least five cases of fodder scam now in various stages of trial.
The apex court issued the notice to Prasad’s minister son while hearing a petition filed by journalist’s widow Asha Ranjan who urged the court to transfer the murder case to Delhi saying she may not get a fair trial in Bihar. She also urged the court to monitor the trial at its own level. The journalist with over two decades of experience and who was the district bureau chief of prominent Hindi daily Hindustan, was killed in cold blood by motorcycle-borne criminals in May this year.
The notice was served on the health minister shortly after a photograph of the minister with Mohammad Kaif, alleged shooter in the murder who surrendered in a local court earlier this week, went viral in the media. The surfacing of the photograph prompted the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to sharpen attacks at the ruling regime.
“I respect the court order but the SC should also issue notices to the BJP leaders who too were spotted with the said man (Kaif),” the health minister told the media on Friday, asking “Thousands of people meet us and click pictures with us and it’s not written on their foreheads that they are criminals or gentlemen.”
A bench of Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice C. Nagappan also served notices on controversial RJD politician Mohammad Shahabuddin who came out of jail earlier this month after being granted bail by the Patna High Court. It was Shahabuddin who was seen in the company of the alleged shooter Kaif moments after he was released from jail. The victim’s family has also accused this politician of hatching a conspiracy to kill the journalist.
Both the health minister and Shahabuddin have been asked to file their replies within two weeks.
The court also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which took over the case only last week to submit the status report by October 17, indicting the it has agreed with the pleas of journalist’s widow to monitor the case. It also directed the state government to provide adequate security to the victim’s family.
“The court expressed concern over the criminal-politician nexus and has also asked the state government to provide security to the victim’s family,” Kislay Pandey, the lawyer who appeared for Asha Ranjan, told the media.
Last week too, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to Shahabuddin, asking him to reply within a week as to why his bail should not be cancelled. The court issued the notice after a prominent Supreme Court lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, as well the Bihar government moved the court, challenging Shahabuddin’s bail granted by the High Court. The top court is to hear the case on Monday.
