Supreme Court upholds acquittal of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni in murder case

The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the acquittal of Union Home Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni in a murder case dating back to the year 2000 [Rajeev Gupta vs Ajay Mishra alias Tani and ors]..A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal stated that it was not inclined to interfere with the concurrent findings of courts below and dismissed the plea filed by the legal heir of the original complainant..The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had in May last year upheld the acquittal of Teni, leading to the appeal before the apex court. The case concerns the death of student leader Prabhat Gupta, who was shot dead near his house at Tikonia in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. Four persons including Teni were named as accused and booked for murder.The trial court acquitted Teni in 2004 after concluding that the prosecution had utterly failed to establish the chain of events. This acquittal was challenged by the Uttar Pradesh government before the Allahabad High Court.On April 7, 2022, acting on a early-hearing application, the High Court had directed that the matter be listed for final hearing on May 16, before an appropriate bench..Meanwhile, Mishra moved the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the appeal from the Lucknow Bench of the High Court to the principal bench of the High Court at Prayagraj.The top court had refused to transfer the plea, but requested the High Court to hear the plea by Mishra for final disposal on November 10, 2022..On November 10 that year, a division bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Renu Agarwal heard the matter and reserved the judgment in the case.However, on December 21, 2022, it was directed that the case be posted for rehearing in January 2023 after one Rajeev Gupta, claiming himself to be the son of the complainant, sought to move an application for permission to submit written arguments.On February 21 last year, the case was finally heard by the High Court, and the judgment was reserved. In May 2023, Teni's acquittal was upheld by the High Court. .On a related note, Teni's son, Ashish Mishra presently stands accused of killing farmers who had assembled in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2021 to protest against the now revoked farm laws. On October 3 that year, eight people were killed after a vehicle belonging to and allegedly being driven by Mishra mowed down the protesting farmers.Ashish Mishra is currently out on bail.