Patna, Oct 16 (PTI) Former Bihar MLA Munna Shukla on Wednesday surrendered before a Patna court to serve life sentence awarded to him by the Supreme Court in the 1998 murder case of ex-minister Brij Bihari Prasad.
Shukla is likely to be lodged in the Beur Central Jail here.
Earlier in the day, the apex court dismissed a plea Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla seeking time to surrender in the murder case of RJD leader Brij Bihari Prasad.
“I have the highest regard and full faith in the judiciary. There are several options available to me. Those options are being explored,” Shukla told reporters before entering the Patna Civil Court where he surrendered.
The Supreme Court on October 3 sentenced two persons, including Shukla, to life imprisonment in a murder case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan had partially set aside the Patna High Court verdict acquitting all the accused and asked convicts Mantu Tiwari and Shukla to surrender within 15 days.
Shukla’s lawyers told the top court that he needs 30 days’ time on account of his wife’s health issues and to manage other affairs.
Dismissing his plea, a bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan said that its October 3 order granted him sufficient time of 15 days and therefore no further indulgence can be granted.
Shukla purportedly held a meeting in his native village Naya Tola in Muzaffarpur district on Tuesday, a video clip of which went viral on social media.
In the video, the convicted leader was heard saying at the meeting: “Munna Shukla may remain in jail but the government in the state will also change. He would hold meetings at his home even while staying inside the prison”.
The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified by the PTI.
Brij Bihari Prasad, an influential OBC leader, was a minister in the Rabri Devi government and undergoing treatment at a super speciality hospital in Patna in 1998 when he was sprayed with bullets.
He was admitted to the hospital while he was in judicial custody as an accused in an alleged engineering college admission scam.
On July 24, 2014, the Patna High Court had acquitted all the eight accused giving them the benefit of doubt and set aside the trial court’s August 12, 2009, order sentencing them to life imprisonment.
Prasad’s wife Rama Devi, along with the CBI, challenged the high court order.
On October 3, the top court convicted Shukla, a former MLA, and accused Mantu Tiwari in the murder case.
The Supreme Court, however, gave benefit of doubt to six other accused, including former MP Surajbhan Singh, and upheld their acquittal as ordered by the high court. PTI COR PKD NN
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