A Bettiah court in West Champaran district has issued summons against the BJP MP from Valmiki Nagar, Satish Chandra Dubey, in a 15-year-old murder case.

Dubey was named in an FIR lodged after the murder of Gaurishankar Arya, a businessman in Chanpatia, West Champaran district, in July 1999. Arya’s son Vinod had lodged the FIR against Dubey and five others. The summons was issued on Saturday. 

Sources in the police headquarters said officers submitted the chargesheet against Dubey on Thursday. Subsequently, the summons was issued by the additional district and sessions judge against all those named in the FIR, including Dubey.

Mohammed Zakir, a public prosecutor, said the trial in the case would start soon as the witnesses have been asked to depose before the court. “The witnesses have already been served notices by the court concerned,” he said.
Efforts to contact Dubey were unsuccessful as his cellphone was switched off. Sources said he was busy with a wedding in the family. One of his confidants, however, said: “He has been framed in criminal cases out of political vendetta. The cases were lodged much before he had contested the Assembly polls and emerged victorious.” 
Public prosecutor Zakir said the police have gathered evidence against all the accused whose involvement have been found in the trader’s murder. 

Businessman Arya was killed when a group of people lobbed crude bombs at him at Chanpatia, Zakir added.
Vinod, son of the deceased, had told the investigating officer that Arya had received threats to his life about 
two months before the attack in July 1999. A gang of extortionists had demanded ransom money from him, the son claimed.

Before winning the election from Valmiki Nagar last year, Dubey represented the Narkatiaganj seat in the Assembly. When he was fielded as a BJP candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, The Telegraph on March 15, 2014, carried a report on how Dubey’s name figured among five accused against whom the police had submitted a chargesheet in a loot case. 

The affidavit submitted by Dubey at the time of filing his nominations papers for the general election also revealed that he had charges of murder, attempt to murder and extortion against him. A few cases were also lodged 
under the Arms Act, the affidavit revealed.

Besides, a confidential report of the Sashastra Seema Bal, the central police force deployed to guard the India-Nepal border, revealed that Dubey was associated with a syndicate that controlled the smuggling of charas and ganja in the eastern parts of West Champaran district.