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More than five decades after the assassination of former Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey has approached the Delhi High Court seeking a court-monitored re-investigation into the 1975 murder case, alleging that the original probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was "diverted and sabotaged."
Choubey, through his intervention plea, has relied on a series of documents, including reports by Justice V.M. Tarkunde, the Bihar CID, and former DIG S.B. Sahai, which, he contends, reveal that crucial evidence was suppressed and that the real conspirators were shielded for political reasons. The plea highlights that Lalit Narayan Mishra, then Railway Minister in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet, was killed on January 2, 1975, in a grenade attack at Samastipur railway station during a public function. The blast claimed the lives of Mishra and two others while injuring several attendees. While the CBI had later attributed the assassination to members of the Ananda Marg sect, the plea points to findings in the Bihar CID's "secret enquiry report" and the Tarkunde Commission that suggested the involvement of influential political figures. The petition also cites the Lok Sabha debates of March 26, 1975, where the then Home Minister Brahmananda Reddy reportedly confirmed that early arrests and confessions were made against individuals other than those later accused by the CBI. The application further annexes a detailed note addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah by Adv. Vaibhav Mishra, grandson of the late minister, is pressing for a re-investigation. It asserts that the initial confessions of suspects Arun Kumar Mishra and Arun Kumar Thakur, recorded under Section 164 CrPC, were sidelined, and the case was subsequently redirected to implicate others. Citing the alleged inconsistencies and the "political motivations" behind the investigative shifts, the BJP leader has requested the High Court to supervise a fresh, impartial probe into the decades-old case "in the interest of justice and public faith in institutions." The matter is expected to be taken up by the Delhi High Court in November 2025. (ANI)
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