PATNA: Expressing dissatisfaction at the trial court order in Lalit Narayan Mishra murder case, which found four persons, including a lawyer guilty of the crime, the late Railway Minister’s son said he didn’t believe that they had anything to do with the sensational case.
“All the convicted persons are innocents and most probably they may not have even been present in Samastipur when the incident happened,” Vijay Kumar Mishra said here on Monday.
However, Jagannath Mishra, former Chief Minister of Bihar who also happened to be the younger brother of L N Mishra welcomed the much-delayed ruling. He asked as to why it took 39 long years for the court to identify the assailants. The delay in judgment has diluted the very essence of the ruling, he said. “It has raised questions (about) our judiciary and our system,” he said, adding that several issues related to the assassination and what had happened in its immediate aftermath remained unexplained.
“The motive is not very clear in the case. Why was such a popular leader of Bihar was killed?” said Mishra, who is also one of the witnesses.
“What was the purpose of removing him from the scene? said, Mishra, who became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time a few months after the killing of his brother. Another family member Rishi Mishra, who is now a JD(U) MLA termed it as delayed judgment and said, “What will happen to the common people when a case related to the murder of a Union Minister takes such a long time?”
Incidentally, all the three Mishras are now in the JD(U) and Dr Mishra’s son Nitish is even a Minister in the Jitan Ram Manjhi Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the Congress spokesperson, though, accused the Mishra clan of playing politics over the murder of the former CM. “Everyone should respect the judgment of the court. If they are not satisfied with the judgment, the doors of higher courts are always open to them,” he said.
four Convicted in Mishra Murder
New Delhi: A city court on Monday convicted three Ananda Margis and a lawyer for conspiring and murdering the then Union Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra in a blast at Bihar’s Samastipur station in 1975. Santoshananda Avadhuta, 75, Sudevananda Avadhuta, 79, Gopalji, 73, and advocate Ranjan Dwivedi, 66, who was on bail and has been practising in different courts in the national capital, were convicted by District Judge Vinod Goel.