Congress MlA Sawna lakra, 72, was on Monday, convicted by a court here in an abduction and murder case against him.
lakra, his bodyguard Janak Mahto, personal driver Gopi Kachchap and one Dinesh Kumar — all found guilty in the killing of one Avinash Tiwary, allegedly having a love affair with his granddaughter.
The court of the Principal Judicial Commissioner SH Kazmi finding lakra and other three guilty convicted all of them in the case. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on May 15.
“The court today convicted the MlA, who represents Khijri constituency, his driver and body guard, all accused in the case. Since the State public prosecutor BM Sharma was not present in the court, punishment will be pronounced on Wednesday,” said State counsel Tanveer Alam.
“The court said that as it is a well proved case, and in the wake of the statements recorded during the examination of the witnesses in the case, all the four were found to be guilty in the case,” added the state counsel. According to the counsel, as many as 35 witnesses were examined during the trial of the case.
lakra however, claimed to be innocent and was confident of getting justice from the higher courts. lakra and his aides have been booked under section 302, 201, 34 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They have also been booked under 27 Arms Act.
“Abhi to High Court hai, Supreme Court hai….Mujhe purn bishwas hai ki nyaya zaroor milega.... (I will go to High Court and then Supreme Court…. I am confident of getting justice from the court. Until all the hopes are exhausted, I don’t consider myself guilty in the case),” said lakra.
The case, in a nutshell, is that 21-year-old Avinash Tiwari, hailing from Garhwa district, went on missing since April 24, 2011. He had left for Ranchi from his home and was allegedly abducted by lakra and his men on April 27.
Avinash, a second-year student of Namdhari College in Garhwa, used to stay mostly in Ranchi as he was working at a private firm here, went to meet the girl at her residence on April 27. He was caught by Mahto and confined in a room. However, Avinash managed to call up a friend, Raj Kamal Pandey, and informed him about the incident before Mahto seized his cellphone. Thereafter, he could not be traced.
Raj Kamal immediately informed Avinash’s family at Garhwa, who then launched a search drive for him and after failing to get any clue about his whereabouts, lodged an abduction case against lakra at Namkum police station.
The police during investigations came to know about the recovery of a body at Karra on April 27.
They then informed Avinash’s father, Sanjay Tiwari, who rushed to RIMS on May 5 and identified the body as that of his son. Police slapped murder charges on lakra after which he went into hiding.
Tiwari’s bullet-riddled body was found from Karra block of Khunti district on April 28, 2011, three days after he went missing. Sanjay Tiwari, father of the deceased, had lodged an FIR against lakra his bodyguard and driver alleging their involvement in the abduction and murder of his son.
The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC), however, was in no hurry to take action against lakra. “As the name of the newly appointed State President Sukhdeo Bhagat has been announced today only, we will sit together with him and take a unanimous decision on lakra in a day or two after he reaches here,” said JPCC spokesperson Shailesh Sinha.
lakra has been lodged in jail for the past two years after he surrendered before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Ranchi on May 24, 2011.