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Former BSP MP, wife put on trial for maid’s murder

Singh and wife were arrested on November 5, 2013 in connection with the death of their 35-year-old maid Rakhi Bhadra.

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A former Member of Parliament from BSP, Dhananjay Singh and his wife Jagriti were on Friday put on trial by a Delhi court in connection with the murder of their maid in November 2013.

Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal ordered framing of charges against Singh for the offence of destruction of evidence while his wife has been charged with murder.

The sessions court ordered framing of charges against Jagriti under various sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means).

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The court fixed the matter for Saturday for formal framing of charges against both the accused.

Singh and wife were arrested on November 5, 2013 in connection with the death of their 35-year-old maid Rakhi Bhadra — a resident of West Bengal.

While the former MP was granted interim bail on October 30 last year, his wife was lodged in Tihar Jail under judicial custody. The court has also charged her with wrongfully confining a person for 10 or more days, forcing unlawful compulsory labour, destruction of evidence and criminal intimidation.

The court has, however, discharged Jagriti of the offence of buying or disposing of any person as a slave.

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In the present case, Rakhi’s body with injury marks on her legs, chest and arms was recovered from Singh’s South Avenue residence on November 4.

It was alleged by the prosecution that Jagriti used to “mercilessly beat” her three domestic helps and had “compelled” them to work as slaves.

Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health. His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award. Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time. Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More

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