E-Paper
Sarwan Sahu murder case: CBI court awards life term to eight accused
Sahu was shot dead outside his house in Lucknow in 2017 as he was fighting the murder case of his son Ayush Sahu
Over seven years after the sensational murder of Sarwan Sahu here, the special CBI court on Thursday awarded life sentence to eight accused in the murder case. The CBI court also imposed a total fine of ₹11 lakh on them.
Sahu, then 58, was shot dead in his shop outside his house in crowded residential Saadatganj locality in the state capital on February 1, 2017. Those awarded life term are Satyam Patel, Aman Singh, Aqeel Ansari, Vivek Varma, Babu Khan, Faisal, Ajay Patel and Rohit Mishra.
Sahu was fighting the murder case of his 27-year-old son Ayush Sahu, 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.
Ansari was a close associate of the late gangster Mukhtar Ansari. Four days before Sarwan Sahu’s murder, Ansari had surrendered in court in the Ayush murder case and was sent to jail. Sarwan Sahu was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while he was sitting at his oil shop at around 8.30pm.
The incident had exposed negligence by cops as Sahu was not provided any police security despite being the key witness in the murder of his son. He had made several complaints to the police of life threat from dreaded criminal Aqeel Ansari, the prime accused in Ayush’s murder.
Threat perception to Sahu could be gauged from the fact that Ansari had once tried to get him eliminated with help of contract killers while being in jail. However, the attempt was foiled as the UP Special Task Force (STF) had arrested the four contract killers in Saadatganj on February 28, 2016.
Thereafter, Ansari had framed Sahu in an alleged fake contract killing case with the help of some police personnel. After this fake case against Sahu came to light, three police personnel, including a sub-inspector of the crime branch Dhirendra Shukla and constables Dhirendra Yadav and Anil Singh, were terminated.
These three cops were accused of hatching the conspiracy against Sahu. Also, five other constables were suspended and departmental action was ordered against an inspector and five other sub-inspectors.
Moreover, five separate FIRs were lodged against Ansari and the police personnel for hatching a conspiracy to frame Sahu in the fake case. On January 10, 2017, crime branch sleuths arrested four youths in Para area claiming that Sahu had given them a contract of ₹20 lakh to eliminate Ansari.
On the basis of police claims, Ansari had lodged an FIR against Sahu for hatching a murder conspiracy against him in Thakurganj police station. However, after a police probe this came out to be a conspiracy by Ansari to frame Sahu. Dhirendra Shukla and other policemen involved in this case had framed four innocent youths of Para area, including Kamran, Afzal, Tamim and Anwar, in this case and had sent them to jail.
The murder case was handed over to the CBI following orders of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on March 21, 2017 on a PIL petition demanding a CBI probe in the case.
A probe panel constituted by the state government had given a clean chit to former Lucknow SSP Manzil Saini in connection with the allegations of negligence in the Sarwan Sahu murder case. Saini, who was the first woman SSP of Lucknow, was accused of not providing police security to Sarwan Sahu despite life threat to him.
Crime branch SI Dhirendra Shukla besides two constables Dhirendra Yadav and Anil Singh were terminated from service on charges of hatching a conspiracy to frame Sarwan Sahu in a fake case in connivance with Aqeel Ansari.
An FIR was lodged against 14 policemen, including Dhirendra Shukla, on January 19, 2017, in this case.
The CBI had registered this case on April 3, 2017 after taking over the case from the Saadatganj police.During investigation, it was revealed that accused Aqeel Ansari had earlier approached Sarwan Sahu to compromise and not pursue the murder case of his son Ayush Sahu. But he did not agree. To eliminate Sahu, Aqeel gave a contract to shooters of the late gangster Munna Bajrangi but could not succeed.
Ansari hatched a criminal conspiracy in 2016 after Diwali along with Satyam Patel, Aman Singh, Ajay Patel, Rohit Mishra, Vivek Verma, Babu Khan and Faisal at the residence of co-accused Satyam Patel at Indira Nagar, Lucknow.
Thereafter, a recce of Sahu’s house and shop was carried out. Satyam Patel ‘Rocky’ and Aman Singh reached Sahu’s shop in February 1, 2017, at around 8.30pm on Vivek Verma’s motorcycle.
Satyam Patel entered the shop and fired five bullets at Sahu. After killing him, both the accused escaped to Delhi. Their clothes were recovered from the house of co-accused Ajay Patel. The motorcycle was recovered at the instance of co-accused Vivek Verma.
Satyam Patel and Aman Singh were arrested on February 9, 2017. On February 16, 2017, one revolver with five empty cartridges and one live bullet were recovered from Satyam Patel. The CBI also recovered one pistol and two live bullets in the magazine from Aman Singh.
After investigation, the CBI filed chargesheet on May 9, 2017 against Aqeel Ansari, Satyam Patel alias Rocky, Aman Singh, Ajay Patel, Rohit Mishra and Vivek Verma U/s 120-B, 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code.
The CBI also filed supplementary chargesheet on September 30, 2020, against accused Babu Khan and Faisal alias Bablu. During the trial of the case, the CBI examined 51 witnesses and exhibited 101 documents and 55 material objects which led to conviction of all the accused.
