A witness declared dead by the court presented himself in the court.
A witness in the journalist Rajdev Ranjan murder case, who was declared dead by the CBI, which is probing the case, appeared before the Muzaffarpur court on Friday, asking the probe agency to show cause for submitting a false death report.
The court’s Additional Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge, Puneet Kumar Garg, served notice to the CBI and directed it to file its reply before June 20, which is the next date of hearing.
Journalist Rajdev Ranjan, who worked for Hindi daily ‘Hindustan’, was shot dead by a group of five miscreants on his way home in Siwan in 2016.
Earlier, the CBI had sought summons from the witness Badami Devi for questioning, which was issued by the court. However, on May 24, the central probe agency declared him dead and also presented his death verification report before the court. Badami Devi appeared in the court on Friday with her documents and affidavit.
“I am staying at my Kasera Toli residence in Siwan. I was made a witness in this case but no CBI officer met me. However, CBI declared me dead, which I came to know through newspapers. This is a conspiracy,” she said in her affidavit.
“The act of the principal institution of investigation appears to be suspicious. Now there is no hesitation in saying that the CBI has done such an act in connivance of another witness. It is submitted that the CBI is playing a big game to falsely implicate the accused persons, especially Vijay Kumar and Azharuddin Baig,” the petitioner’s counsel Sharad Sinha told the court.
He told reporters outside the court that the CBI’s act was “strange and shocking”. On May 17, 2016, the Bihar government had recommended the CBI for a thorough investigation into the journalist’s murder. The CBI had registered the case on 15 September 2016.
It had questioned late RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin in connection with the matter. However, Shahabuddin had claimed that he was in jail at the time of the incident.