Patna, March 31: A special CBI court today held Rupam Pathak, principal of a Purnea-based public school, guilty of killing BJP legislator Raj Kishore Keshari.
The MLA was knifed to death by Rupam at his Sipahi Tola residence under Khazanchi Haat police station in Purnea on January 4, 2011.
Special CBI judge B.N. Singh found Rupam guilty under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and fixed April 10 as the date to pronounce the quantum of punishment.
Rupam was brought to the court from Beur Central Jail under tight security, as police feared resistance from representatives of some women organisations who were present on the court premises.
CBI’s counsel A.H. Khan said the trial in the case started in September 2011, soon after the charges were framed against Rupam by the court. “The copy of the charges levelled against her (Rupam) was submitted to the defence counsel within a week of framing of the charges,” he added.
Initially, the CBI had submitted a chargesheet against Rupam under Section 304 (Part I) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). The Section was changed later and she was booked under Section 302 (murder) after the intervention of the slain MLA’s relative, Sudip Keshari, who was not satisfied with the CBI probe.
Rupam’s counsel Dinesh Kumar said that he would challenge the verdict after the pronouncement of the quantum of punishment. “We will first go through the verdict of the court and then decide the further course of action. It is obvious that we will move the high court against the verdict of the special CBI court,” Kumar told The Telegraph.
The trial of another accused in the case, Navlesh Pathak, a Purnea-based journalist, was separated from that of Rupam. “Investigation against Navlesh is still on,” said Khan.
Navlesh, who has been accused of hatching a conspiracy to eliminate Keshari, is currently out on bail granted by the Patna High Court.
The daylight murder of the four-term MLA had generated heat in the political circles and the government was forced to recommend a CBI probe into the case on January 8, 2011.
Rupam, the owner of Rajhans Public School, had, however, accused Keshari and his associate Bipin Rai of sexual abuse.
Rai, who surrendered before a Purnea court recently, is currently lodged in jail. His anticipatory bail was rejected by the Patna High Court on March 12, 2012.
Keshari’s widow Kiran contested the Purnea by-election as a BJP candidate and emerged victorious.
Sudip’s counsel Sunil Kumar said that the investigating agency is adopting a “dilly-dallying” attitude towards the co-accused in the murder case. “While Rupam has been convicted, the investigation against co-accused Navlesh is still going on,” he said.
