CBI gives clean chit to CMOs’ murder accused

The CBI has verified his presence in these towns from the hotels where he stayed,sources said. This further exposes the Lucknow Police which had claimed to have solved the two murders by arresting some men,but later filed applications in court saying there was no evidence against them. So far,the authorities have punished no one for cooking up a false story and putting innocent men behind bars.

Pandey,an accused in the murder of Lucknow University student union general secretary Vinod Tripathi,had escaped from judicial custody after giving policemen the slip at the Lucknow district court premises on September 26,2010.

On December 12 last year,the police arrested of two youths,Vijay Dubey and Ajay Kumar Mishra,and claimed it had solved Dr Arya’s murder after questioning them. The police said that two criminals – Anshu Dixit and his brother Annu,both lodged in Lucknow jail — had taken a contract from gangster Abhay Singh to kill Dr Arya for Rs 5 lakh.

The police claimed that Sudhakar Pandey,who was also in Lucknow jail with other accused before his escape,was given the task of killing Dr Arya. The police theory was that Pandey executed the crime with the help of Vijay Dubey and Ajay Mishra on October 27,2010. Pandey was declared an absconder in the case and the DGP announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest.

Dr Singh was shot dead on April 2 this year. The ballistic examination of the empty shells recovered from the spots of the two murders showed that at least one weapon had been used in both crimes. The police then claimed that Pandey was involved in the second murder as well. On April 26,Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh doubled the reward on Pandey’s head.

But the police theory had several loopholes. Above all,they could not explain the motive behind the two crimes. It was then alleged that the police had cooked up a story in order to protect the real culprits. In these circumstances,the investigation was transferred to the special task force,which came up with an entirely different theory.

On June 17,the STF arrested Ram Krishna Verma,Anand Tiwari and Vinod Sharma for the murder of Dr Singh. It claimed that Verma had hired Tiwari and Sharma,on the instructions of former Deputy CMO Dr YS Sachan. It recovered two pistols from the possession of Tiwari. Forensic tests showed the weapons had been used in both crimes.

Before the STF could question Dr Sachan,he was found dead in the Lucknow jail in suspicious circumstances on June 22.

The Lucknow Police filed chargesheets in both murder cases in July. In Dr Arya’s murder,it named Ram Krishna Verma,Anand Tiwari,Vinod Sharma,Sudhakar Pandey and Vijay Dubey as accused while in Dr Singh’s murder it named all of them except Dubey.

On July 16,the Lucknow Police filed an application in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate,requesting for the release of Anshu Dixit,Annu Dixit and Ajay Kumar Mishra,whom it had earlier named as accused,saying it had found no evidence against them. Abhay Singh had already got bail.

However,the police maintained that Vijay Dubey was involved in Dr Arya’s murder. Dubey is still in jail and CBI sources said that they had found no evidence against him either case,although investigation is incomplete.

Asked about the status of the reward on Sudhakar Pandey,Lucknow DIG DK Thakur replied,“Pandey still carries a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head. It does not matter if his involvement in CMOs murder case is found or not,he already was on the run after his escape from judicial custody.”