Plea filed to withdraw murder case against Karwaria brothers

PRAYAGRAJ: The state government’s special public prosecutor Ranendra Pratap Singh has filed an application in the court of the additional sessions judge Ramesh Chandra to withdraw a murder case against the Karwaria brothers.

Former MP Kapilmuni Karwaria, ex-MLA Udaybhan Karwaria and former MLC Surajbhan Karwaria are among the accused in the murder of Samajwadi Party MLA Jawahar Pandit. Pandit was murdered in the Civil Lines area of Prayagraj (Allahabad) on September 13, 1996. The state government had taken the decision to withdraw the case against the Karwaria brothers after evaluating the evidences filed in this case and on the basis of legal opinion, people familiar with the matter said.

The power to withdraw criminal cases is vested in the public prosecutor or assistant public prosecutor of the state government under Section 321 of the CrPC. According to the statute, at any stage before the judgment, the prosecutor can move to withdraw the prosecution against one or all offenders in a case under one or all offences.

On December 22, 2017, the state assembly unanimously passed the Uttar Pradesh Criminal Law (Composition of Offences and Abatement of Trials) (Amendment) Act for abatement of criminal trials in 20,000 cases that were lodged against ‘politicians, legislators and others’ for apprehension of the breach of peace.