A local court in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district on Tuesday ordered that a notice should be issued to Chief Minister Adityanath in a 19-year-old murder case, the Hindustan Times reported. Adityanath has been told to respond within a week.
The case pertains to the killing of Satyaprakash Yadav, the personal security officer of then Samajwadi Party leader Talat Aziz, during a protest rally by the party at Bhitauli village in February 1999. According to the police case, a group led by Adityanath allegedly opened fire on the protesters, during which Yadav was killed.
A First Information Report was registered against Adityanath and others for attempt to murder, rioting armed with deadly weapons, defiling a place of worship, promoting enmity between different groups and criminal intimidation.
The case was transferred to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department, a special wing of the state police. Two years later, it submitted an inconclusive report, saying it could not establish who had fired the gunshots. The court asked Aziz, a litigant in the case, whether the matter should be closed.
In March, the sessions court had dismissed the case against Adityanath as well as his counter-case against Aziz. Following this, Aziz filed a revision petition in the Allahabad High Court, which asked the sessions court to reopen trial in the case.
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