LUCKNOW: Giving reprieve to Minister of State for Home, Ajay Mishra Teni, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court comprising Justice AR Masoodi and Justice OP Shukla, on Friday, upheld his acquittal as ordered by a trial court in a 23-year-old murder case dismissing the criminal appeal filed by UP government against him.
The HC in the order said that there was no error in trial court’s verdict. Teni was the prime accused in murder case of student leader Prabhat Gupta who was killed near his house in Tikonia over panchayat elections in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2000. Four persons, including Ajay Mishra Teni, were booked under IPC sections.
The trial court had acquitted Teni in 2004 but the UP government had challenged the acquittal before the HC. Against the order of the lower court, a revision plea was also filed by the father of deceased Prabhat Gupta before the HC. The revision was admitted in February 2005 and was clubbed with the criminal appeal filed by the UP government.