Patna, Feb 22 (IANS) A special court for MP-MLA cases in Bihar’s Chapra on Tuesday sentenced former minister Ravindra Nath Mishra, convicted on February 15 in a 33 year old murder case during a poll rigging case, to life imprisonment.
Former Rural Development Minister Mishra, and his younger brother, were booked in a case occurring during polling for the Assembly election on February 27, 1990.
As Mishra and his supporters tried to capture a polling booth (Booth number 175 and 176) in Manjhi block in Saran district, they fired several rounds which led to chaos at the place. One voter, Uma B., was hit and died on the spot.
Following the incident, polling officer Pranay Malik and polling agent Mahesh Yadav lodged a FIR in the Manjhi police station. However, Malik turned hostile in the court as the pressure was allegedly applied by Mishra but Yadav remained firm in his stand.
Based on the FIR of Yadav, Additional Public Prosecutor Dhrupdev Singh managed to record the statements of seven witnesses in the court.
Mishra was elected as an Independent candidate from Manjhi assembly constituency in 2000 and became Rural Development Minister in the Rabri Devi government.
–IANS
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