Lucknow, Aug. 22: One of India’s longest and most sensational murder trials ended with a whimper today, throwing up a life term for the killer of badminton ace Syed Modi but failing to lift the 21-year-old shroud off the real plotters.
A CBI court here sentenced a 46-year-old farmer from Rae Bareli, Bhagwati Singh, for pulling the trigger. But it had no answer who may have hired him for the alleged crime of passion in which Modi’s wife Amita and Sanjay Singh, then a rising politician and now Congress MP from Sultanpur, were charge-sheeted and acquitted.
The court had yesterday convicted Bhagwati of shooting the eight-time national champion as he stepped out of Lucknow’s KD Singh Babu Stadium after practice on the evening of July 23, 1988.
Today, the additional sessions judge refused to hand the death penalty, saying the prosecution had failed to establish why the shooter had come all the way from Rae Bareli to Lucknow to kill a man whom he bore no personal grudge.
“What to say? The world knows who were behind the shooter,” a pensive prosecuting lawyer, R.B. Khare, said. “But this, as the judge said, was not proved in court.”
The case hit the headlines throughout the late ’80s and ’90s amid whispers of an affair between the swashbuckling Sanjay — a royal descendant and a friend of the victim — and Amita, a national-level badminton player who had fallen in love with Modi on the circuit.
Amita and Sanjay married after the trial court acquitted them in 1989 for lack of evidence and the Supreme Court upheld the acquittals in 1990.
Modi’s murder was seen as a national loss. Not only was the 26-year-old touch player universally loved for his gentleness, but fans still hoped he would eventually acquire the “killer instinct” and start winning international majors.
“The shooter cut short the life of a great badminton player who would have earned more international fame in his career,” the judge said.
“But I refuse to consider this as a rarest of rare case as the prosecution has failed to establish the motive of the shooter. The CBI had said the shooter had killed at the behest of other co-accused who were discharged by the court. But the investigating agency has failed to prove this.”
Four assailants had been waiting for Modi in a car outside the stadium. Bhagwati and Amar Bahadur Singh, both carrying revolvers, walked up to the player and Bhagwati shot him from close range. They then ran back to the car where Jitendra Singh and Balai Singh were waiting, and sped off.
Amar Bahadur was later murdered, Balai died during the trial and Jitendra was exonerated. Another suspect to be acquitted was Akhilesh Pratap Singh, an Independent MLA close to Sanjay.
Of the 29 witnesses, many turned hostile but at least five testified against Bhagwati, who must also pay a Rs 40,000 fine or serve three extra months in jail.
Defence lawyer Piyus Awasthi claimed the CBI had framed his client after failing to nail the powerful plotters. He said he would challenge the judgment in the high court.
Lawyers said the trial was certainly one of the longest in the country, but the whole truth may now never be known.
None from Modi’s family came over from Gorakhpur to hear the judgment but court sources said the player’s brother was in touch with the lawyers. Modi now has a badminton tournament named after him, which is organised every year.
