Sanjay Singh murder: 2 Naxals convicted

This was the first case in Bihar in which POTA was invoked. Sanjay Kumar Singh, the District Forest Officer (DFO) of Shahabad Division, was murdered on February 15, 2002 by a group of 25-30 Naxalites in Rehal village of Nauhata police station, Rohtas district, while he was on a routine inspection.

Singh was known as a honest officer who was fighting against the mining and forest mafia in Sasaram district. The case was handed over to the CBI on the request of the Bihar government.

The CBI had taken up the case on March 22, 2002, examined more than 150 witnesses and collected a number of documents. According to the CBI, Singh was strictly enforcing the law to the displeasure of Naxalites working in the area, who conspired to eliminate him. While Singh was on tour with his colleagues on February 15, 2002, he was surrounded by Naxalites led by Nirala Yadav, who demanded several favours from the DFO. Singh refused to comply with their demands, the CBI said.

Consequently, the Naxalites took him to the nearby forest and shot him dead, the CBI said. The case was reported in The Indian Express and the Supreme Court took suo motu note of the case and appointed an amicus curiae to monitor the investigation.

During investigation, CBI arrested Vinod Rajwar and Roopdev Yadav. After the probe, the CBI filed a chargesheet against the two and other unknown persons in a Sasaram court on October 11, 2002 under various sections of IPC, Arms Act and POTA.