New Delhi: Four followers of Hindu sect Anand Marg were yesterday held guilty by a court here for the 1975 murder of then railway minister Lalit Narayan Mishra. District Judge Vinod Goel held the four guilty of killing Mishra 39 years ago. Gopalji (73), Ranjan Dwivedi (66), Santoshanand Avadhuta (75) and Sudevananda Avadhuta (79) were convicted on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon. Santoshanand Avadhuta and Sudevananda Avadhuta were also convicted under various provisions of the Explosive Substances Act. The judge ordered that the four be taken into custody and fixed December 15 for arguments on the quantum of sentence.
Mishra had gone to Samastipur Jan 2, 1975, to declare open the Samastipur-Muzaffarpur broad gauge railway line. A bomb explosion on the dais seriously injured him. He was rushed to the railway hospital in Danapur where he died the next day. Two more people died in the explosion while 25 others, including former Bihar chief minister and L N Mishra’s brother Jagannath Mishra, were injured. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that Anand Marg followers had carried out the attack on Mishra to put pressure on the government for releasing one of the group’s leaders. However, the convicts claimed innocence in the case. The Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi in 1979. The charges were framed in 1981. On the direction of the apex court, the lower court began hearing the final arguments in the 39-year-old case on a daily basis since September 2012. Over 160 prosecution witnesses and around 40 defence witnesses were examined.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court yesterday asked real estate major DLF to stop construction of its luxury apartments complex overlooking the backwaters near here, saying it was against the rules. The project has almost been completed at the Chilavanoor backwaters near Kochi. The court said DLF will have to demolish those portions built in contravention of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules. The ruling came after petitioner A.V. Antony approached the court saying elementary environment rules have been violated. The issue had also rocked the legislative assembly earlier this year, after the Left opposition lashed out at the Oommen Chandy government saying all rules were allowed to be violated as it was Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra who was behind the project.
IANS
