Prayagraj, Oct 7 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has rejected the second bail applications of former BSP MP Kapil Muni Karwariya, his brother and former MLC Surya Bhan Karwariya and co-accused Ramchandra Tripathi, who are serving life imprisonment in the 1996 murder of then Samajwadi Party MLA Jawahar Yadav.
A division bench of justices Salil Kumar Rai and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal passed the order while hearing criminal appeals filed by the Karwariya brothers and Tripathi.
The court had earlier rejected their bail applications on May 9, 2023.
Former MLA Uday Bhan Karwariya, who is also serving a life term in the case, did not file a second bail application as his sentence was recently commuted by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Jawahar Yadav, popularly known as Jawahar Pandit, was shot dead in broad daylight in the Civil Lines area of Prayagraj on August 13, 1996, using an AK-47 assault rifle.
A trial court convicted the Karwariya brothers and their accomplices in 2019 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
In their second bail pleas, the appellants cited their prolonged incarceration and submitted that their criminal appeals had remained pending without being heard for more than two years.
Rejecting the grounds, the high court observed that since May 2023, it had consistently urged the appellants’ counsel to argue the main appeals on merits. However, the defence repeatedly sought adjournments and instead pressed for short-term bail applications, according to the order dated October 5.
The bench held that the gravity of the offence and the appellants’ deliberate conduct in avoiding final hearing disentitled them from seeking bail solely on the ground of the period of incarceration. PTI COR KIS ZMN
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