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After a dark Diwali, a quiet Holi in jail for Rocky Yadav

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Amitabh Srivastava
Amitabh SrivastavaMar 07, 2017 | 15:40

After a dark Diwali, a quiet Holi in jail for Rocky Yadav

Though the mills of God grind slowly, they grind exceeding small.

After a dark Diwali behind bars, Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav is now destined to have a lustreless Holi in Gaya jail after the Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the bail granted to him by Patna High Court last year.

The Supreme Court has also directed the lower court concerned to complete the trial within the next six months. Facing trial under section 302 (murder) of the IPC, Rocky will now remain in jail until the completion of trial.

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Not that he deserved any better. Rocky is the main accused in the killing of a Class 12 student Aditya Sachdeva in a road rage case in Gaya on May 7 last year. Ballistic reports and other evidence clearly established that the cartridge recovered from Aditya's skull had been shot from a silver-coloured pistol recovered from the personal possession of Rocky, who also owned the firearm.

Rocky, 23, is said to be a postgraduate in political science from Delhi University. Living outside Gaya since the age of six, Rocky was aspiring to become a civil servant. He was a regular visitor to the city during vacations and was deeply interested in local politics.

Neighbours in Gaya describe Rocky as a supercilious young man, who treated everyone with disdain, never forgetting to remind about the political clout of his parents.

He is in jail since October when the apex court had stayed the bail granted by Patna High Court. Now the court has cancelled Rocky’s bail. The Nitish Kumar government had moved the Supreme Court to oppose Rocky’s bail.

The state had argued that the accused deserved to be mandatorily sentenced to death if the offence under Section 27 of the Arms Act is established against him. The state had also submitted that the family of the deceased had received threats from the accused.

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Rocky, son of suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi and Bahubali Bindi Yadav, allegedly shot Aditya dead "because he could not tolerate a small Swift car overtaking his big and imported Land Rover".

The unfortunate killing of a young boy had sent shock waves across the country, besides adding a new dimension to the tag Jungle Raj, which ironically keeps getting glued to Bihar.

Acting swiftly, the Bihar Police filed a chargesheet against Rocky, his cousin Teni Yadav, his father Bindi Yadav and his MLC mother’s bodyguard Rajesh Kumar in this connection. Accused of sheltering Rocky while he was on the run after the murder, his parents, Bindi Yadav and Manorama Devi, have secured bail. Rocky's mother is a sitting MLC facing criminal prosecution while his father has several criminal cases pending against him.

Ironically, however, the prosecution has suffered several setbacks in the trial against Rocky with as many as six important witnesses - four of Aditya's friends and two police constables - turning hostile in court. One of the "hostile" constables has been suspended for backtracking from his earlier statement made before the case investigating officer.

There are four witnesses in the road rage incident and all of them have turned hostile. These four boys, Kaifi, Ankit, Nassir Hussain and Ayush Agarwal, were travelling in the same vehicle with Aditya and had been witness to the shooting.

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Victim Aditya and his vehicle.

Though the four witnesses admitted being with Aditya in the car on May 7, on the Bodhgaya-Gaya road behind the central jail, all failed to recognise Rocky in court as the assailant who opened fire. The witnesses also failed to recall the registration number of the vehicle in which Rocky was travelling.

But hostile witnesses are unlikely to weaken the case against Rocky beyond a point, as the prosecution is backed by incriminating evidence in the form of a forensic report, which established that the bullet that hit the slain boy was fired from the Beretta pistol owned by Rocky.

Besides, the prosecution is also banking upon other scientific evidence, including the tower location of the mobile phones of the accused. Rocky's father, cousin and constable Rajesh are also facing trial in the same case.

The prosecution has framed charges against all four in court under different sections that deal with murder, attempt to murder, concealing facts, furnishing false information, a public servant disobeying the direction of law with intent to save a person from punishment, the Arms Act and others. Apart from Rocky, the other three, however, have been released on bail.

The prosecution also believes that apart from the statements of witnesses, there is sufficient circumstantial evidence, the forensic science laboratory (FSL) report, scientific inputs, recovery of Rocky's pistol as the murder weapon, vehicle and other evidence to substantiate the allegations against the accused.

The police have said they recovered a Beretta pistol registered in Rocky’s name. Curiously he also had a licence for the firearm. Issued in June 2013 and valid until 2018 with an all-India permit, Rocky had procured it under the sports quota and for general protection from the ACP, Delhi Police. Granting of licence to Rocky was clearly inappropriate and apparently done without application of mind as his father Bindi Yadav has been a dreaded criminal with suspected Maoists link.

Though Rocky had participated in shooting competitions, he clearly had no respect for the rules. Those who operate in shooting circuits are expected to keep their weapons, especially a loaded one, with utmost respect and caution.

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Bindi Yadav, now in his mid-fifties, is infamous for unleashing a reign of terror in Gaya. (Left) Rocky's vehicle.

Rocky obviously had none of it. Just before the Bihar Assembly election, Rocky had waved a pistol at a pick-up van driver for overtaking his vehicle. A crowd soon gathered in reaction but Rocky slipped away after flaunting his family connections.

Bindi Yadav, now in his mid-fifties, is infamous for unleashing a reign of terror in Gaya and its adjoining regions. He was once among the most feared criminal-turned-politicians of the nineties. Bindi was also involved in grabbing prime property in Gaya with impunity. Police records show his involvement in different crimes since 1995 - among them attempt to murder, dacoity, loot, intimidation, extortion and providing arms to Maoists. Such was Bindi's clout that in 2001 he was elected unopposed as chairman of the Gaya district board, a post he held till 2006.

Bindi Yadav twice contested the Assembly polls, as independent in 2005 and as RJD candidate in 2010, though he failed to win the Gaya Mufassil seat on both occasions. Bindi, however, used his clout to get his wife Manorama Devi to become a member of the Legislative Council from the RJD in 2003. Manorama, sources said, "joined" the JDU in 2015 apparently at Lalu's behest and became an MLC, this time from the JDU, for a second term.

Bindi is operating as a full-time contractor since 2011. His double-storied house in Anugrah Puri colony in Gaya town built on around two cottahs of land, and a fleet of SUVs that includes a Pajero, Scorpio and the Land Rover, speak volumes about his fortunes.

But, all this may not save Rocky.

Last updated: March 07, 2017 | 15:40
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