3 get life in jail for Dubey murder

The three — Mantu Kumar,Udai Kumar and Pinku Ravidas — had been convicted for Dubey’s murder on March 20. Senior CBI lawyer L R Ansari told The Sunday Express: “As it was not a rarest of rare case of murder,with intention being robbery,both prosecution and defence pleaded the court for punishment it deemed fit in the case.” Dubey’s family,however,stayed away from the court saying they had “little interest in the case as no big fish were caught by the CBI”.

Satyendra Dubey’s brother Dhananjay Dubey,an engineer working with a private firm,told The Sunday Express from New Delhi that “there was no point for us to visit the court when we strongly feel that the CBI did not catch the right people. These small fries getting life sentence or whatever sentence does not mean anything to us.”

Dhananjay said his parents — Bageshwari Dubey and Phulmati Devi — had been living with him in Delhi for some time. “Though they have gone to our paternal Shahpur village in Siwan for 10 days,I do not want the media to disturb my aged and torn parents. My mother recently had a brain haemorrage”. Dhananjay said they had lot of hopes about “getting justice” for his brother after media — particularly The Indian Express — widely covered the case and generated widespread public concern over the fate of whistleblowers in India.

The court convicted Mantu Kumar under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder),394 (voluntary causing hurt in committing robbery) and 27 (A) Arms Act for possessing unlicensed weapon. Udai and Pinku were convicted under IPC sections 302/34 (murder committed in furtherance of common intention) and 394. The verdict came six years and four months after Dubey’s death. The CBI had taken over the investigation of the case from the Bihar Police on December 14,2003 and filed a chargesheet in the case on September 3,2004. The CBI had arrested four persons — Mantu,Udai,Pinku and Sharvan Kumar — all residents of Katari village in Gaya. Shravan later turned approver in the case.

All the four accused had gathered near Gaya Circuit House on the intervening night of November 26-27,2003. As Dubey was crossing the road around 3.30 am in a cycle-rickshaw,the four robbed him and later engaged in a scuffle with the NHAI project director. Mantu shot him dead with a .315 country-made weapon,said a CBI statement.

The investigating agency later recovered a suitcase having documents,including Dubey’s Identity Card from an abandoned well. The pistol used in Dubey’s murder was also recovered later.