ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad HC on Friday sentenced BJP MLA from Hamirpur
Ashok Singh Chandel
and nine others to life term in a 22-year-old shootout in which five members of a family were killed in Bundelkhand's Hamirpur.
While partly allowing an appeal filed by the state government and complainant Rajiv Shukla, a division bench comprising Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh reversed the decision of the district and sessions judge, Hamirpur, dated July 17, 2002, who had acquitted all 10 accused, including Chandel.
The state government as well as the complainant had challenged the decision of the district and sessions judge.
On January 26, 1997, a minor altercation between BJP netas Shukla and Chandel had led to a shootout in Hamirpur in which five people, including Shukla's two older brothers Rakesh and Rajesh, nine-year-old nephew Ambujh, and two others Ved Nayak and Srikant Pandey had died. Five more, including two children, had sustained bullet injuries in the shootout.
The FIR lodged named Chandel and the others. Subsequently, the police after investigating the matter, filed the chargesheet in the case.
After trial, all 10 accused including Chandel were acquitted on July 17, 2002, by the district and sessions judge, Hamirpur, on the ground that the testimony of the witnesses was doubtful. The decision was challenged by Shukla, who is the main complainant before the high court, which reversed the order on Friday.
Chandel, one-time MP and four-time MLA from Hamirpur, had started his political career in 1989 as an Independent MLA. Presently, he is a sitting BJP MLA from Hamirpur.