BHOPAL: The Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has quashed the May 19, 2017 order of a court in Bhind district which directed the inclusion of the state’s general administration minister, Lal Singh Arya’s name among those accused of murdering Congress MLA Makhanlal Jatav in 2009.
A single judge Bench of Justice Sheel Lagu, which on Monday heard the criminal revision petition filed by the Madhya Pradesh minister, on Tuesday quashed the Bhind court’s May 19 order directing inclusion of Arya’s name among those accused in the 2009 murder case.
The High Court (HC) Bench observed that the court in Bhind had passed the order against the minister without giving Lal Singh Arya ample opportunity to be heard in the case, the minister’s counsel Rajesh Shukla told the New Indian Express on Wednesday.
The HC also quashed the Bhind Court’s arrest warrant issued on May 19 against Arya. Further, the HC ordered the Bhind court to give ample opportunity of hearing to the petitioner in the future, before initiating any proceedings in the case, added Shukla.
On May 19, the court of special judge (SC/ST Atrocities) Yogesh Kumar Gupta in Bhind district had ordered that the minister, presently the BJP legislator from Gohad seat of Bhind district be included among the accused in the 2009 murder case.
The Bhind court had also issued an arrest warrant against Arya, but stayed its execution till June 3, following a plea by his counsel to file a revision petition in the HC against the order.
The court had ordered including the minister in the murder case, as the eye witnesses in the case, including Makhanlal Jatav's son had stated before police that Arya (who lost the 2008 assembly polls from Gohad) had directed the assassins to kill Jatav, while he was sitting in a jeep.
Makhanlal Jatav, the Congress MLA from Gohad seat of Bhind district, was shot dead while campaigning for party candidate Dr Bhagirath Prasad in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Bhind constituency. Dr Prasad is presently the BJP MP from Bhind Lok Sabha seat of MP.
The HC order has rendered a reprieve to Arya, who was embattled politically as both the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were protesting regularly, demanding his resignation/ouster from state council of ministers.