Ajit Sarkar Murder Case: The very next day after the murder of Brij Bihari Prasad in Patna on 13 June 1998, i.e. on 14 June, at around 5 pm, veteran communist MLA Ajit Sarkar from Purnia was murdered. Although there was no common intention in both these murders, a common incident definitely happened at the time of both the incidents. After committing both these incidents, the miscreants raised slogans of 'Jai Bajrang Bali'. It is claimed that after the incident, Shriprakash Shukla and his two associates Anuj Pratap Singh and Sudhir Tripathi used to raise slogans like this.
Purnia MP Pappu Yadav was made the main accused in this incident. Along with him, the names of many others including Shriprakash Shukla and his two associates were added. Seeing the anger of the people after the incident, the then Chief Minister Rabri Devi had to get the matter investigated by CBI. It is a different matter that CBI filed a charge sheet against all the accused, but during cross-examination in the court, this charge sheet could not stand and all the accused were acquitted by the High Court due to lack of evidence. At present this matter is pending in the Supreme Court.
How did Shriprakash Shukla enter this incident and what happened after the incident? Before knowing the answers to these questions, it is important to look at the developments from ground zero. On June 14, at 11 am, there was a dispute among the Dalit community in a village in Purnia. In this case, the then MLA Ajit Sarkar had gone to the Panchayat in his white Ambassador car. He was also accompanied by a driver, a colleague and a private gunner. His government gunner was on leave that day. When Ajit Sarkar returned to his village at five in the evening, it was drizzling. The electricity was also flashing.
According to Subhash, an eyewitness to the incident, he was just 50 meters away from the incident site. Suddenly a crackling sound started coming. At first he thought that clouds were thundering, but when he heard Ajit Sarkar's scream, he ran to the spot. Meanwhile all three bike riders left from there. According to Subhash, this incident happened just 200 meters away from Ajit Sarkar's house. At that time, after overtaking Ajit Sarkar's car, a Bullet rider came forward and signaled him to stop by giving him his hand. As soon as the driver had stopped the car, two people riding a Yamaha bike came from behind and started firing indiscriminately at Ajit Sarkar.
A total of 107 bullets were fired in this incident. In this, 46 bullets hit Ajit Sarkar, while the remaining bullets hit his driver and aide. Some bullets also hit the body of the car. His gunner did not even get scratched in this incident. It is noteworthy that Ajit Sarkar used to do a different kind of politics. Because of this, many landlords and political people were in trouble. Therefore, planning to remove him from the road was going on about three months ago. The problem was that no proper shooter was found.
It is said that through Suraj Bhan, the master mind of the incident came to know that Shriprakash Shukla was going to come to Patna, so he was hurriedly given contract and this incident was carried out. Now listen to the further story. Bihar government was under tension after the murder of Brij Bihari Prasad in Patna and Ajit Sarkar in Purnia. There was increased pressure on the police to arrest the accused. The central government, through the Governor, had put so much pressure on the government that leave alone Chief Minister Rabri Devi, even the political archer Lalu Yadav himself was not able to understand how to control the situation.
In this way, he himself was taking moment-to-moment reports from the police and giving further instructions. Amidst all this, a celebration was organized at Munna Shukla's place in Vaishali, Bihar. On one side, a feast was taking place and on the other side, an orchestra was also playing. Shriprakash Shukla and Munna Shukla were sitting at the front. Nearby Sudhir Tripathi and Anuj Pratap Singh were also sitting with weapons in their hands and enjoying the celebration. CBI has also confirmed this event in its charge sheet. It is written that this event was organized to celebrate the assassination of Brij Bihari Prasad and Ajit Sarkar.
The Supreme Court has given its verdict in the Brij Bihari murder case today i.e. on Thursday itself. In this case, the Supreme Court has acquitted others including Surajbhan Singh, who is said to be the mastermind of the crime. Munna Shukla and Mantu Tiwari have been found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Since the three miscreants involved in this incident, Shriprakash Shukla, Anuj Pratap Singh and Sudhir Tripathi were earlier killed by UP STF in an encounter, hence their names are silent in this case. After the acquittal of all the accused by the High Court in the Ajit Sarkar murder case, his wife has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court. This matter is currently pending.
