Noida Police Chief Father Killed Lucknow Verdict

It was supposed to be a family outing for some festival shopping. On the afternoon of August 8, 2002, 57-year-old senior advocate Indradev Singh had asked his wife, Nayantara Singh, to meet him near the district court in Lucknow. The family planned to ride to Aminabad market to buy clothes and household items ahead of the festival season. Nayantara arrived with their 24-year-old son, Digvijay Singh, on a scooter. Indradev Singh, a former president of the Lucknow Bar Association, set off ahead of them. As his scooter neared the Kaiserbagh Telephone Exchange, barely 500 metres from the district court, another vehicle pulled alongside. According to the prosecution, two men were on it. Before Singh could react, one of them opened fire at close range. A bullet struck Singh in the neck. He lost control of his scooter and collapsed onto the road. His wife and son, riding a short distance behind, abandoned their scooter and rushed to him. With the help of passers-by, they took him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Nearly 24 years later, a special CBI court in Lucknow on Tuesday has sentenced three men to life for the murder, bringing to a close a case that had rocked the legal community in the city and had led to protests and roadblocks by angry lawyers. On June 30, the court had held Vikram Yadav alias Kalia, Panna Singh and Brijesh Yadav guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy. Vikram Yadav was already in jail in another case, while Panna Singh and Brijesh Yadav, who had been out on bail during the trial, were taken into custody from the courtroom after the verdict. Three other accused in the case — alleged conspirator Manna Lal Gupta, Ved Prakash Lohia alias Neta and Chhote Lal alias Chhotu Yadav — died during the course of the trial. Protests, probe As news of the killing spread on August 8, 2002, hundreds of lawyers gathered near the crime scene, staged a protest and demanded the immediate arrest of those responsible. The protest ended only after police assured them that those involved would be brought to justice. Nayantara later lodged a complaint at Kaiserbagh police station, alleging that the murder stemmed from a long-running dispute between her husband and his former associate, Manna Lal. The investigation was initially handled by a Special Investigation Team constituted by the Lucknow police. Amid mounting public pressure, the probe was transferred to the CBI later in 2002. According to the prosecution, the CBI found that the murder was rooted in a dispute over a parcel of land on Sitapur Road. The complainant's counsel, Ram Kumar Yadav, said Indradev Singh had purchased the land and entrusted his associate, Manna Lal, a former lekhpal and lawyer, with developing it into residential plots for sale. Relations between the two allegedly soured after Singh discovered irregularities in the transactions. The prosecution alleged that Manna Lal failed to account for advances and booking amounts collected from prospective buyers and stopped maintaining accurate financial records. As the dispute escalated, Singh accused him of cheating in several land deals. ‘Conspiracy to kill’ The CBI alleged that Manna Lal then conspired to eliminate Singh and hired contract killers to execute the plan. CBI counsel K P Singh said the investigation found that Vikram Yadav, who had a criminal record, fired the fatal shot while riding pillion on the two-wheeler driven by Brijesh Yadav as they approached the victim’s scooter. Panna Singh was also part of the conspiracy, according to the agency. The CBI filed its chargesheet on August 7, 2003, naming six accused on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. K P Singh said the prosecution examined 50 witnesses during the trial, while the defence did not examine any witnesses. Last week, Nayantara Singh, now in her seventies, was present in court when the conviction was pronounced. The couple's daughter, Laxmi Singh, is a 2000-batch IPS officer now serving as the Police Commissioner of Gautam Buddh Nagar. Her husband, Rajeshwar Singh, is the BJP MLA from Sarojini Nagar in Lucknow. Digvijay Singh, the son of Nayantara and Indradev, is now a teacher. Defence counsel Ashish Tripathi said the prosecution’s case rested entirely on circumstantial evidence.