HC refuses bail to former UP minister in murder case

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Friday rejected the bail application of former minister Ram Karan Arya who was sentenced to rigorous life term by the Basti sessions court on April 10, 2017, in connection with a murder case.

Arya was also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000.

The former minister had moved the bail application seeking his release during the pendency of the appeal.

Rejecting Arya’s bail plea, a division bench comprising justice Shashi Kant Gupta and justice Ajit Kumar observed: “In view of the nature of offence and material evidence that led the trial court to hold him guilty of the offence of murder, we are not inclined to grant him bail.”

However, the court directed that the hearing of Arya’s criminal appeal should be expedited.

Arya had allegedly committed the murder of one Shambhu Saran Pal by opening fire on him from a double barrel gun on November 23, 1994.

According to the FIR lodged against Arya, Pal was going to attend a political rally in a jeep when Arya and his aides surrounded his vehicle.

Arya fire a shot at Pal which hit him on the neck. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Opposing the bail application, the state counsel argued that the convict was a sitting legislator (MLA) when he committed the crime and later became a minister.

“He committed a coldblooded murder at a public place. It cannot be presumed that the convict did not know the intensity of the shot fired from such a close range and the gravity of his act,” the counsel said.

“The fact that the trial was dragged for 24 years speaks volumes about the influence of the convict who was released on bail by sessions judge at the very beginning. He was elected MLA for three terms and also became minister during the trial,” he said.

The counsel said Arya did not deserve bail merely on the ground that he had no other criminal antecedent besides the case in question and that he did not misuse the bail granted to him in the past.