HC reprieve for Nitish in three-decade-old murder case

In a major reprieve to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court on Friday stayed proceedings against him in a 1991 murder case.

The single judge bench of Justice A Amanullah quashed the lower court order which had asked police to issue summons to Nitish in the 28-year-old case.

It may be mentioned here that the AJCM of Barh had initiated proceedings against Nitish in connection with a murder case (No.131/1991) of one Sitaram Singh during the by-election of Barh parliamentary constituency in 1991.

In the FIR lodged with the police on November 17, 1991, altogether five persons, including Nitish, were named accused. Even though the police had given clean chit to Nitish, but suddenly, after a long gap of nearly two decades, one Ashok Singh filed a complaint petition on January 20, 2009 in the court for re-opening of the case.

The case involved the murder of Congress worker Sitaram on November 16, 1991 in Barh. Incidentally, the murder took place on polling day and Nitish was in the fray as the Janata Dal candidate from where he eventually won.

The matter was eventually heard in the high court, which reserved its order on January 31, 2019. The judgement was delivered here on Friday.