Gurudas Chatterjee

Ranchi, May 6: They had approached the high court for a lighter sentence but were awarded the death penalty instead.

An appeal to the high court today boomeranged on Shiv Shankar Singh and Umesh Singh, prime accused in the murder of trade union leader and MLA Gurudas Chatterjee in April 2000.

The lower court had sentenced five of the accused to life imprisonment. Though the high court decided to acquit three of them for lack of evidence, decided to modify the sentence of the two main accused and awarded them the death penalty.

The bench of Justice R.K. Merathia and Justice Hari Shankar Prasad, however, ordered the acquittal of Narmadeshwar Singh alias Choura Master, Nuren Master and Vijay Singh, who had been accused of hatching the conspiracy and appointing Shiv Shankar Singh and Umesh Singh to carry out the plan.

Chatterjee was shot at point-blank range on April 14, 2000, when he was returning to Nirsa from Dhanbad along G.T. Road.

The incident took place near Deoli village under Govindpur police station area. Chatterjee?s car was overtaken by Shiv Shankar Singh, who was riding a motor cycle, and Umesh Singh, who was sitting on the pillion, shot at the legislator with automatic weapons. The MLA died on the spot.

Chatterjee?s assailants had followed the legislator who had come to Dhanbad to visit friends and relatives on the first day of the Bengali new year.

After murdering the MLA, the assailants fled from the spot, leaving Chatterjee in a pool of blood.

Tension gripped the area as people gathered in large numbers to protest against the assassination of a popular leader who worked among the masses. GT Road was blocked for several hours with people demanding that the then chief minister of unified Bihar arrive on the spot and initiate a high-level inquiry.

The police had rounded up the accused and it was revealed during investigations that five persons ?Armadeshwar Singh alias Choura Master, Nuren Master, Vijay Singh, Shiv Shankar Singh and Umesh Singh ? were involved in the crime.

While the lower court convicted the five named above, three other persons ? Premjeet Singh, Umashankar Singh and Muhammad Zahid ? were acquitted by the lower court.

Marxist Coordination Committee president A.K. Roy said all those aggrieved by the death of popular leader Gurudas Chatterjee wanted justice to be done.

?Chatterjee was a leader of the poor and took up cases against those who exploited the common man. We have full faith in the judiciary and expect that justice will be meted out,? said Roy.