Three get life term for former JNU student leader's murder

Patna, March 23 (IANS) A special court here Friday sentenced three people to life imprisonment for the murder of Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) leader and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Chandrasekhar in Bihar's Siwan 15 years ago.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Dhirendra Kumar Pandey sentenced Dhruv Kumar Jaiswal, Sheikh Munna and Illyas Warsi, all residents of Siwan, to life in prison. The court had convicted them of the murder Tuesday, court officials said.

Chandrasekhar and his associates Shyam Narayan Yadav and Bhatti Mian were gunned down at the JP roundabout in Siwan March 1997, when the student leader was addressing a public meeting.

Chandrasekhar, a firebrand speaker, was targeted after he launched a campaign to expose rampant corruption and criminalisation of politics in Siwan, then stronghold of controversial Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Shahabuddin.

On the basis of a case lodged in the town police station in Siwan and nationwide hue and cry, the then state government handed over the case to the CBI.

The CBI registered a case against Shahabuddin, Jaiswal, Munna and Warsi, and two others - Rustam Khan and Reyazuddin - under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act Aug 7, 1997.

In May 1998, CBI submitted a charge sheet against five people. At present, investigation is on against Shahabuddin, who is languishing in Siwan jail in other criminal cases.