PATNA: The Patna High Court today granted bail to 14 persons, including two former MPs and a sitting BJP MLA, in a case related to an attack on Sitamarhi Collectorate and subsequent police firing in which five persons were killed in 1998.
Justice Gopal Prasad of the High Court allowed bail pleas of the former MPs and BJP MLA and others. On June 4, they were sentenced to 10 year's imprisonment by a fast track court of Sitamarhi. Those sentenced by lower court were BJP MLA from Parihar Ram Naresh Yadav, former JD-U MP from Sitamarhi Nawal Kishore Rai, former Sheohar MP and RJD leader Anwarul Haq, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) district President Ram Lakshman Singh Kushwaha and General Secretary Mohan Kumar Singh.
One of the convicts Suryadeo Rai, who was a police bodyguard of Nawal Kishore Rai, had been handed down a five-year prison term by the same fast track court on that day. Lawyers of the convicted persons in the lower court had pleaded with the High Court that there was no evidence against them and they were themselves injured in the incident in 1998.
The single judge subsequently granted the bail today.