Allahabad HC denies bail to Karwariya brothers in SP MLA murder case

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), May 11 (IANS) The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the bail application of former MLA Uday Bhan Karwariya, ex-MLC Surya Bhan Karwariya, ex-MP Kapil Muni Karwariya and another person in the 1996 murder case of Jawahar Yadav Pandit, a former Samajwadi Party MLA.

Justice Salil Kumar Rai and Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal rejected the bail application of the convicts filed in their criminal appeals, challenging their conviction in the murder case.

The plea of the appellants was that the Prayagraj sessions judge, while passing the conviction order, had failed to consider the serious inconsistency in the statements of prosecution witnesses and the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the appellants beyond reasonable doubt.

"Also, the plea of alibi of the appellants was not considered though they had produced witnesses in support thereof that they were present at some other place at the time of incident," the appellants' counsel argued.

The court observed, "Contention of the appellants that the plea of alibi was not considered though they have produced defence witnesses in support thereof, is also unfounded because once the incident is proved by eyewitnesses and the defence could not impeach the credibility of the eyewitnesses during cross-examination, the plea of alibi cannot be accepted."

It may be recalled that in August 1996, Jawahar Yadav, then a SP MLA, was sprayed with bullets in Civil Lines in Prayagraj, then Allahabad, with AK-47s. He died on the spot.

Twenty-three years later on October 31, 2019 the district court convicted former MP Kapil Muni Karwariya, former MLA Udaybhan Karwariya, Suraj Bhan Karwariya in the murder case of Jawahar Yadav.