The Supreme Court
has upheld an order of the Allahabad High Court that dismissed an appeal filed
by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2004 against Union minister Ajay Mishra's
acquittal in a murder case.
The case pertains
to the killing of Prabhat Gupta in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in
2000.
A top court bench
of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said it was not inclined to
interfere with the concurrent findings of facts recorded by the Lucknow bench
of the high court and the trial court.
"Having
heard the senior counsel, Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, at length
and after carefully perusing the material placed on record, we are not inclined
to interfere with the concurrent findings of facts recorded by the two courts.
Hence, the special leave petitions are dismissed," the bench said in its
order passed on January 8.
The trial court
had acquitted Mishra in the case in 2004, after which the state government
challenged the decision in the high court.
The top court was
hearing an appeal filed by petitioner Rajeev Gupta, challenging the May 2023
high court order that had said there was no error in the trial court's
judgment.
Earlier, the
Union minister had moved the apex court seeking a transfer of the appeal from
the Lucknow bench of the high court to the principal bench at Prayagraj, which
was declined.
Mishra and others
were named in the FIR lodged in Lakhimpur in connection with the killing of
24-year-old Gupta, who was shot dead in the Tikunia area of the district.
The additional
sessions judge in Lakhimpur Kheri acquitted Mishra and others in the case in
2004 for want of adequate evidence.
Aggrieved by the
acquittals, the state government had preferred an appeal, while the deceased's
family had filed a separate revision petition challenging the judgment.