Gaya road rage case: HC acquits ex-MLC’s son, two others

The Patna HC has held that the prosecution failed to prove that “two bullets sent to the forensic laboratory are of the same bullets which were fired at the fateful night from 0.380 Berreta pistol, leading to death of Aditya Sachdeva”.

The Patna high court has acquitted all three accused in the infamous 2016 Gaya road rage case, including the son of a former JD(U) legislator, who were earlier sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Gaya in connection with the incident in which a Class 12 student was shot dead.

Rocky Yadav being taken to the court in Gaya days after the murder. (Hindustan Times)

In the incident on May 7, 2016, which had triggered a widespread outrage, Aditya Sachdeva, son of Shyam Sundar Sachdeva, a prominent businessman of Gaya, was killed by Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky after the 19-year-old student overtook his SUV, a Land Rover.

Rocky allegedly first fired a warning shot from his Italian-made 3.80 bore Beretta pistol, forcing Sachdeva to stop. He then beat him up, before shooting him dead.

Rocky is son of Manorma Devi, a former member of legislative council (MLC), and RJD leader Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi Yadav, who died of Covid-19 in 2020.

The three accused in the case were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court in Gaya in September 2017.

“They be set at liberty forthwith if not required in any other case,” reads the order.

Besides Rocky, the other two sentenced by the trial court but now acquitted by the HC are his cousin Tenny Yadav alias Rajiv Kumar and Manorma Devi’s bodyguard Rajesh Kumar.

During the trial in Gaya court, the prosecution had established that a licensed pistol and 19 live cartridges were seized from Rocky after the incident and that the same pistol was proved to have been used in commission of crime.

However, the HC has held that the prosecution failed to prove that “two bullets sent to the forensic laboratory are of the same bullets which were fired at the fateful night from 0.380 Berreta pistol, leading to death of Aditya Sachdeva”.

Earlier, on October 28, 2016, the Supreme Court had stayed the regular bail granted to the three by the Patna HC to Rocky on an appeal filed by the state government. They have since been lodged in Gaya Central Jail.

Rocky’s father Bindi Yadav was a history sheeter and had unsuccessfully fought assembly elections.