Former Bihar MP’s life term in murder case upheld by HC

Ranchi: The Jharkhand high court has upheld the lower court’s verdict awarding life imprisonment to former Bihar MP Prabhu Nath Singh and his brother Dina Nath Singh here on Friday.
The court of Justices Amitav K Gupta and Rajesh Kumar pronounced their order through video conferencing.
The Singh brothers were convicted by a Hazaribag sessions court for the murder of Mashrak legislator Ashok Singh about two decades ago. Ritesh Singh, another convict in the case and an aide of Prabhu Nath Singh, has, however, been acquitted in the case by the high court owing to lack of evidence.
Both Prabhu Nath Singh and his brother are in custody serving out their sentence since May 2017. They had moved the high court in 2017 after being convicted for murder and sentenced to serve life imprisonment by the Hazaribag court.
The incident dates back to July 3, 1995 when Ashok Singh, who had won the Mashrak seat under the Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket, was killed in his government residential quarters. An FIR was lodged by Ashok Singh’s widow Chandni Devi stating that a bomb was hurled and it claimed the life of her husband.
She had also alleged that Prabhu Nath Singh, his brother Dina Nath Singh and Ritesh Singh had conspired to kill her husband. Singh’s counsel H K Shikarwar argued that his client has been purposely framed in a false case due to political rivalry.
“There is no direct evidence on record to link Prabhu Nath Singh with the death of Ashok Singh. The factum of conspiracy has not been established,” Shikarwar had argued. On the other hand, Chandni Singh’s counsel Vandana Singh objected to the appeal and said that the evidence is clinching in nature to establish the guilt of Prabhu Nath Singh in the case.