‘Key conspirator’ in Shrawan Sahu murder case gets bail

Babu Khan was convicted and awarded life imprisonment under IPC sections 302 and 120-B for hatching a murder conspiracy

LUCKNOW Babu Khan, one of the alleged key conspirators in oil trader Shravan Sahu’s murder, was granted bail by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Tuesday, nearly nine months after he, along with seven other accused, was awarded a life sentence by a special court of CBI here.

Sahu was shot dead in his shop outside his house in a crowded residential locality of Saadatganj on February 1, 2017. (Pic for representation)

Sahu was shot dead in his shop outside his house in a crowded residential locality of Saadatganj on February 1, 2017. He was fighting the murder case of his 27-year-old son Ayush, who was shot dead by a local gangster, Aqeel Ansari, after a brawl outside a beer shop on Campbell Road under Thakurganj police station on October 16, 2013.

“The double bench of justice Pankaj Bhatia and justice Kshitij Shailendra allowed the bail for Babu Khan as there was not much circumstantial evidence against him. Besides, he also remained on bail while the trial was pending with the CBI court during the years. Moreover, one other co-accused, Ajay Patel, was also enlarged on bail on April 21, 2025,” said counsel of the appellant, advocate Zeeshan Alvi, on Wednesday.

“Considering the fact that the appellant has no substantial criminal antecedents and there is nothing on record to demonstrate that the appellant, if enlarged on bail at this stage, can have any adverse effect on appeal. Also, because the appeal is of the year 2024 and there is no likelihood of the appeal being heard in the near future, the appellant Babu Khan is enlarged on bail in the aforesaid sessions trial,” the court order stated.

Zeeshan Alvi informed that Babu Khan was convicted and awarded life imprisonment under IPC sections 302 and 120-B for hatching a murder conspiracy. On August 22, 2024, the special CBI court awarded life sentences to eight accused in the Shravan Sahu murder case. Others convicted were Aqeel Ansari, Ajay Patel, Satyam Patel, Aman Singh, Vivek Varma, Faisal and Rohit Mishra. Ansari was a close associate of late gangster Mukhtar Ansari.

Sahu was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while he was sitting at his oil shop around 8.30pm. The incident exposed negligence by cops as Sahu was not provided any police security despite being the key witness in the murder of his son, Ayush. He had made several complaints to the police citing life threat. Threat perception to Sahu could be gauged from the fact that Ansari had once tried to eliminate him with help of contract killers while being inside jail.

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