A special CBI court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday convicted 11 police officers for the murder of a former royal in Rajasthan in 1985, NDTV reported. Raja Man Singh was then the titular head of Bharatpur, a former princely state in Rajasthan, and an independent MLA from Deeg. His death led to political turmoil in Rajasthan, including the resignation of then Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur.
The court will pronounce their sentences on Wednesday. The 11 policemen include former Deputy Superintendent of Police of Deeg, Kan Singh Bhati. The CBI had filed charges against 18 police personnel. While four of them died during the decades-long trial process, three were acquitted.
Singh was a seven-time independent MLA between 1952 and 1984. Singh’s grandson Dushyant Singh said in a statement on Tuesday that in the 1985 Assembly election in Rajasthan, the Congress had fielded retired IAS officer Brijendra Singh against Raja Man Singh in Deeg.
“At the time Congress workers insulted the Bharatpur flag and this made Raja Man Singh very angry,” Dushyant Singh said. “He drove his jeep into a stage set up for the then chief minister’s rally [on February 20, 1985] and damaged a chopper meant to transport the chief minister.” The next day, when Singh and his associates – Thakur Sumer Singh and Thakur Hari Singh – were on their way to the local police station to surrender, a police team led by Bhati opened fire on them, killing them on the spot, he said.
The case was initially heard in a court in Rajasthan but was moved to Mathura based on the Supreme Court’s instruction following a plea by Raja Man Singh’s daughter Krishnendra Kaur Deepa, according to the Hindustan Times.
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