Uttar Pradesh strongman Dharam Pal Yadav, who was convicted for killing Mahendra Singh Bhati in 1992, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the CBI court in Dehradun on Tuesday.
On February 28, Yadav was held guilty of murdering Bhati, the then sitting MlA from Dadri in Ghaziabad. Former Rajya Sabha member DP Yadav, along with three other accused — Karan Yadav, Praneet Bhatti and Pal Singh — had surrendered on February 28.
Special Judge, CBI Cases, Dehradun sentenced all the four accused to undergo life imprisonment.
The court had directed three of them, DP Yadav, Karan Singh and Praneet Bhati, to pay Rs1.15 lakh each as penalty while lakkarpala was asked to pay to Rs45, 000, it is learnt.
The court pronounced the quantum of punishment 23 years after the incident.
Sameer Bhati, son of Mahendra Singh Bhati said he was happy that the verdict had been delivered finally. “I am happy with the quantum of punishment too,” he said.
Bhati and his close friend Udai Prakash Arya were gunned down by assailants on September 13, 1992 at the Dadri railway crossing. Another person, OP Kayal, was injured in the firing. Bhati, who was travelling in a Maruti car, was peppered with bullets in what was believed to be a part of the gang wars in western Uttar Pradesh. After an initial probe, the case was moved to the CBI and the premiere investigative agency took it up on September 10, 1993.
In the charge sheet that was submitted in 1996, the CBI named eight people, including Yadav, in the murder case. Four of the accused have died in the interim, with the case dragging on for over two decades.