Murder convict evades arrest for 13 yrs, top cops told to show cause

MOTIHARI: Fourteen officers, who served as superintendents of police (SPs) at north Bihar’s East Champaran district from 2001 to 2014, have come under judicial scrutiny for failing to arrest a person convicted to life imprisonment for as many as 13 years.

Following an instruction from the Supreme Court, the high court (HC) asked the officers on Saturday to explain why they failed to arrest Brajesh Tripathi, a resident of Ghorasahan village in East Champaran, for such a long period of time.

THE HC ASKED THE OFFICERS TO EXPLAIN WHY THEY FAILED TO ARREST BRAJESH TRIPATHI FOR SUCH A LONG PERIOD OF TIME

Tripathi, who was an employee of the area’s public health engineering department (PHED), had been sentenced to life in 1986 after being convicted in a murder case. However, after obtaining parole after a short stint in prison, he filed an appeal in court and never returned.

Sources said Tripathi then continued to function as a PHED employee at various places in the state until the high court, in 2001, reduced his jail sentence from life to six years. “Repeated reminders for his arrest were sent to the police thereafter, but the warrant was not executed for the next 13 years (2001-14),” said a source from the Motihari civil court. Tripathi retired from government service in January 2014 and surrendered in court on April 28, 2014. The matter came to light when the SC, while rejecting Tripathi’s appeal that he had been falsely implicated in the case, noted that he had been moving freely for the last 13 years.