A Ranchi court on Friday acquitted Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Panki candidate and proprietor of a private school, Shashi Bhushan Mehta, in connection with the murder of a widow who worked as a warden in his school and allegedly pressurised Mehta to marry her after an illicit relationship between the two turned bitter.
The court of Justice Vijay Kumar Srivastava on Friday said that Mehta was acquitted due to lack of evidence confirming the allegations leveled against him. Mehta’s lawyer, Biswajit Mukherjee told media persons outside the court that there were no “circumstantial evidences” found against his client. The absence of an eyewitness in the case also worked in favour of the defense.
The deceased, Suchitra Mishra, was murdered on May 11, 2012. Her postmortem report confirmed that she was pregnant. Suchitra’s family –her two sons and brother—have been fighting for justice since the incident. The police arrested Mehta – a Palamu-based businessman and self-proclaimed educationist—in 2012. However, he was released on bail later in the same year.
Suchitra’s brother Gagan Pandey said that her family was still waiting for justice. However, he did not comment on whether the family would knock the door of a higher court or not for justice. “There were lacunae in the police investigation from the beginning. We come from a humble background and it is extremely difficult for us to fight against powerful politicians and influential personalities,” he said.
Mehta’s induction in the BJP in October had triggered political debates across the State, with opposition parties slamming the BJP for inducting “criminals” and “scamsters”. Mehta had contested the Assembly elections from Panki in 2004, 2009 and 2014 under the banner of Jharkhand Sangharsh Morcha. He contested the 2016 by-poll in Panki on a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) ticket and lost to Congress candidate Devendra Singh.
The BJP fielded Mehta from Panki in the ongoing Assembly elections here and his selection as a candidate also drew flak from political opposition. Mehta was the director of Oxford Public School in 2012. He was accused in the case along with six others — Rajnath Singh, Pradeep Kumar Paswan, Dharmendra Thakur, Anup Singh and Satya Prakash.
Mehta was charged under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). And as per section 8 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, a conviction in the case would have made him ineligible for contesting elections or representing a Legislative Assembly.
The BJP backed him despite knowing the consequences if the court’s decision came against Mehta.
However, with the verdict in his favour, Mehta is eligible to represent a legislative Assembly and also hold the office of a State Minister.