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All 16 convicts get life for BJP leader’s murder in Varanasi
The court had found them guilty of the murder of Pashupatinath Singh, which took place in October 2022, on Thursday.
A fast-track court here sentenced all 16 men convicted in the murder case of BJP leader Pashupatinath Singh to life imprisonment on Friday. The court had found them guilty of the murder, which took place in Jaiprakash Nagar area of Varanasi in October 2022, a day ago.
Additional district government counsel Manoj Gupta said, “The Fast-track Court-I of Additional District Judge Kuldeep Singh-II sentenced the 16 convicts to life imprisonment in the case of the murder of BJP leader Pashupatinath Singh.”
Singh was killed when he came to the rescue of his son Rajkumar Singh, who was attacked by a group of men as he forbade them to consume liquor near a liquor store in Jaiprakash Nagar area.
The convicts include Vikas Bhardwaj, Mantu Saroj, Rahul Saroj, Manish Pandey, Ganesh Saroj, Abhishek Saroj, Dinesh Pal, Anoop Saroj, Suraj Yadav, Ramesh Pal, Anuj alias Babu Saroj, Shyam Babu Rajbhar, Vishal Rajbhar, Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Suresh Saroj and Arya alias Akash Saroj.
The court also slapped a fine of ₹29,500 on each convict. In case of non-payment of fine, the convict must face an additional three-month imprisonment, added ADGC.
Meanwhile, Rajkumar expressed satisfaction over the judgement.
One of the convicts’ counsel, who pleaded anonymity, said an appeal against the judgement would be filed in the High Court.
The case
On October 12, 2022, accused Mantu Saroj and Rahul Saroj were creating a ruckus after consuming alcohol with two other companions at a country liquor shop in Jai Prakash Nagar Colony of Sigra police station area.
After local Rajkumar forbade them to do so, the four clashed with him and then left. After a while, Manto, Rahul and 16 others came back and attacked Rajkumar with an iron bar. Upon hearing the noise, the BJP leader Pashupatinath reached the spot and tried to save his son. The attackers attacked Pashupatinath Singh too with an iron bar and thrashed him badly. Both were rushed to the BHU Trauma Center, where doctors declared Pashupatinath Singh dead.
On the complaint of Rajkumar Singh’s brother Rudresh Kumar Singh, the police registered a case under section 147, 148, 504, 506,307, 149, 302 at the Sigara police station.
Later, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya visited Rajkumar and his family at the latter’s house and expressed his condolences. A few days after the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a letter to console the bereaved family.
