Patna: The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced former MLA Vijay Kumar Shukla, also known as Munna Shukla, and Mantu Tiwari to life imprisonment in connection with the 1998 murder of former Bihar Science and Technology Minister Brij Bihari Prasad. At the same time, six other accused, including former MP Suraj Bhan Singh and Rajan Tiwari, were acquitted due to a lack of evidence. The verdict comes after years of legal battles and appeals.
Brij Bihari Prasad was murdered in 1998 while receiving treatment at IGIMS in Patna. The minister was shot dead while walking on the hospital campus. At the time of the incident, Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister of Bihar. The Patna civil court had initially sentenced all eight accused to life imprisonment in 2009. Those charged alongside Munna Shukla included Suraj Bhan Singh, Rajan Tiwari, Mukesh Singh, Lallan Singh, Captain Sunil Singh, Ram Niranjan Chaudhary, and Shashi Kumar Rai.
In 2014, the Patna High Court acquitted all the accused, citing insufficient evidence to convict them. Brij Bihari Prasad’s wife, Rama Devi, a BJP leader and former MP, along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), challenged the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court. The appeal was heard by a three-judge bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar, and Justice R. Madhavan, who reserved the order after hearings on August 21 and 22, 2023.
After the Supreme Court’s verdict, Rama Devi expressed her gratitude to the judiciary and thanked the government, specifically acknowledging Home Minister Amit Shah’s efforts in the case. She had previously voiced her dissatisfaction with the High Court’s decision to acquit all the accused and had pursued justice for her late husband by filing the petition in the Supreme Court.
The murder of Brij Bihari Prasad created a significant uproar in Bihar’s political landscape. Due to the controversy surrounding the case, the state government handed over the investigation to the CBI shortly after the incident. The trial court’s conviction in 2009 was a turning point, but the relief granted by the High Court in 2014 sparked further challenges.
