Court acquits MLA Abhay Singh in double murder case

Lucknow: The special MP/MLA court in Lucknow acquitted four accused, including sitting MLA Abhay Singh, in a 19-year-old double murder case in Lucknow.Special judge Harbans Narayan also acquitted Ravindra Singh aka Rajju, Ajay Pratap Singh aka Ajay Sipahi and Firoz Ahmad.The crime took place on the night of March 31, 2007. Complainant Nardamuni Singh, father of victim Shatrughan Singh alias Chhotu, lodged an FIR with Bazaar Khala police. He alleged that while he was at a Hanuman temple near Eidgah around 9pm, he heard gunshots from his tent house shop. On reaching the spot, he saw two assailants firing at his son Shatrughan. When he and a worker rushed to intervene, the attackers allegedly opened fire on another person, Jitendra Tripathi.Both victims were shot dead and the assailants fled on a bike driven by a third accomplice waiting nearby.Police filed a chargesheet on Aug 13, 2008 against Ravindra, Ajay Pratap and Firoz Ahmad. A separate chargesheet was filed against Abhay Singh under Sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The court records indicated that Abhay Singh was in jail under the National Security Act at the time of the incident," said defence counsel Satendra Singh.Who is Abhay SinghAs SP candidate, he defeated BSP's Indra Pratap Tiwari in the 2012 UP elections but lost the seat to Tiwari in 2017 polls after the latter joined the BJP. Singh made a comeback in the 2022 Assembly polls when contesting on SP ticket he defeated BJP's Aarti Tiwari — wife of jailed MLA Indra Pratap Tiwari — by 13,000 votes. In June 2025, Singh was expelled from the SP along with two other legislators for allegedly voting in favour of the BJP during the Feb 2024 Rajya Sabha elections.