Bihar Journalist Murder: Woman Declared Dead By CBI, Appears In Court

The woman named Badami Devi appeared before the judge in a civil court in Muzaffarpur, ANI reported.

Badami Devi (Image: ANI)

New Delhi: In a major development in journalist Rajdev Ranjan’s murder case, a witness, who was allegedly declared dead by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reached the court in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on Saturday.

The woman named Badami Devi appeared before the judge in a civil court in Muzaffarpur, ANI reported.

The woman claimed that the investigating agency had declared her dead.

“Huzoor (sir), I am alive. I have been declared dead by the CBI. This has been done under a well-thought-out conspiracy,” she told the court.

The woman also showed her identification proof, including voter ID card and PAN card, in the court.

Meanwhile, Sharad Sinha, the petitioner’s advocate, said that Badami Devi was a key witness in the case, adding the CBI had in its report filed earlier on May 24 declared her dead.

Raising questions on the CBI, the petitioner’s advocate called it a “big negligence” on part of the investigating agency.

“It is big negligence on the CBI’s part. What will happen if the nation's biggest investigating agency will act like this?” he asked.

Sinha further stated that the CBI did not even contact the woman and declared her dead.

The court issued a showcause notice to the CBI in connection with this matter.

Ranjan, the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan, was shot dead earlier in May 2017.

The journalist was gunned down by motorbike-borne criminals near the busy Station Road at Siwan in north Bihar.

Ranjan’s widow Asha had sought direction for the registration of an FIR against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shahabuddin and Tej Pratap Yadav for “conspiracy and harbouring and sheltering the proclaimed offenders” in the murder case.

In 2017, the CBI took the custody of Mohammad Shahabuddin, whose name had cropped up as an accused in the investigation.

The Supreme Court had, however, in March 2018 closed the proceedings against Tej Pratap in connection with this case.