The Patna High Court today granted bail to high-profile RJD Lok Sabha member from Madhepura Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of CPI-M MLA Ajit Sarkar over a decade ago. A division bench comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Avijit Sinha allowed Yadav's prayer for bail after hearing his lawyer N P Singh and CBI's standing counsel Bipin Kumar Singh. The court directed Pappu Yadav to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10,000 and two sureties of like amount before the court of designated CBI judge in Patna to obtain bail. Special CBI judge B M Srivastava had on February 14,2008,pronounced Pappu Yadav,former independent MLA Rajan Tiwari and another accused Anil Yadav guilty and awarded them life term. Sarkar,a firebrand CPI-M MLA,who had a running feud with Pappu Yadav over issues relating to farm labourers,along with his driver Harendra Sharma and party worker Ashfaqur Rehman,were gunned down at Subhas Nagar in Purnea town on June 14,1998.
