RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday hurled a bombshell at Nitish Kumar, accusing the JDU chief of deliberately delaying court proceedings in a murder case.
Soon after Nitish's resignation as CM on Wednesday evening, Lalu questioned the circumstances under which the court proceedings in the 1991 murder case were stayed. "The allegation against Nitish is more serious than the one levelled against Tejashwi," the RJD chief said.
The case pertains to the killing of Congress worker Sitaram Singh on November 16, 1991, when a re-poll was being held in Barh Lok Sabha constituency in Patna district.
Sitaram lived in Dhibar village under the jurisdiction of Pandarak police station in Barh in Patna (rural).
The case is pending in Patna High Court.
An FIR was lodged on November 17, 1991 by Sitaram's relative Ashok Singh, accusing Nitish and others of hatching a conspiracy to kill Sitaram.
The other named accused included former minister late Dilip Singh and Lalu's aide Dularchand Yadav. Lalu was the chief minister at that time.
Nitish was contesting elections from Barh Lok Sabha seat as a Janata Dal nominee. He was later elected as MP from the seat.
The incident occurred on September 1, 1991, when "accused Nitish Kumar, Dilip Singh, Dularchand Yadav, Bodhu Yadav and Yogendra Yadav" allegedly attacked Sitaram when he was about to cast his vote.
Dilip Singh, the elder brother of the present Independent Mokama MLA, Anant Singh, was then the MLA of Mokama.
Ashok Singh, the complainant had said that the accused persons had stopped Sitaram from casting his vote following which firing took place and Sitaram was shot dead.
Four other persons - Suresh Singh, Mauli Singh, Mannu Singh and Rambabu Singh - were injured in the incident, Ashok had said in his FIR.The court of then ACJM, Barh, Ranjan Kumar had issued summons to Nitish and Dularchand Yadav under Section 202 of CrPC. The summons were issued on the basis of statement of two witnesses, Ramanand Singh and Kailu Mahto.
In 2009, a Bihar court had asked Nitish to appear before it in connection with the case in which the police had absolved him of the charge.
On August 31, 2009, then Barh's additional chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Ranjan Kumar had issued summons to Nitish, directing him to appear in the court on September 9, 2009.
However, the allegations were found false in course of police investigation, and the police accordingly filed their final case report in the court, absolving Nitish of the charge.
On January 20, 2009, complainant Ashok filed a protest-cum-complaint petition in the Barh sub-divisional court challenging the findings of the police investigation.
The fresh case came up before the court several times. But the petitioners (Nitish and others) either sought time or remained absent on dates.
During one of the hearings, however, Ramanand Singh claiming to be an eyewitness, told the court that he saw "Nitish, Dilip, Dularchand, Bodhu Yadav and Yogendra Yadav opening fire with illegal weapons".
Sitaram died on the spot, Ramanand had told the court.
Accused Yogendra Prasad and others moved the high court seeking a stay on the proceedings in the case. On July 28, 2010, a single bench of Justice A.K. Tripathi had adjourned the hearing on the quashing petition of Yogendra, another accused.
Radheshyam Singh, on whose petition the court of Barh SDJM had issued summons to Nitish, had filed an affidavit in the high court saying he was unwilling to be an intervener petitioner.
