JOIN USFormer Uttar Pradesh minister and don-turned-politician D P Yadav was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment along with three of his accomplices for murdering Mahendra Singh Bhati, then MLA from Dadri, in 1992.
Bhati, who was said to have patronised Yadav and had helped the latter gain entry into the liquor trade, was gunned down near Dadri railway crossing on December 13, 1992. Bhati, who was a three time MLA from Dadri was an influential politician and had a criminal past.
After much political pressure, the then Kalyan Singh government had recommended a CBI probe and trial was shifted to Dehradun, on the direction of the Supreme Court.
The special CBI court on Tuesday sentenced Yadav and his three associates Pal Singh, Praneet Bhati and Karan Yadav to life imprisonment besides imposing hefty fines on them.
Yadav had surrendered in the CBI court on Monday after the court reserved its judgment in the case. Yadav, whose son Vikas Yadav and nephew Vishal Yadav were serving life sentences after their conviction in Nitish Katara killing, had been a member of the Lok Sabha from Sambhal and also member of the Rajya Sabha.
He formed a political outfit Rashtriya Parivartan Dal and contested the 2012 Assembly polls. However, his party was rejected by the people.
His wife Urmilesh Devi, who too was a member of the UP Assembly, was disqualified by the Election Commission on charges of electoral malpractices. Yadav was a minister in the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government in 1989.
He had tried to join the Samajwadi Party in 2012 but was snubbed by UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.