The Hindu : National : Verdict in Niyogi case reserved

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Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

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National

Verdict in Niyogi case reserved

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 14. The Supreme Court today reserved judgment in the case of murder of trade union leader, Shankar Guha Niyogi, murder case.

A Bench, consisting of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan, reserved the verdict on special leave petitions by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the then Madhya Pradesh Government (now Chhattisgarh), Asha Niyogi, wife of Niyogi, and the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, challenging a judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court acquitting all the accused in the case.

The prosecution contended that a hired assassin killed Guha Niyogi, on September 27, 1991, as he lay asleep in his house in Bhilai. This happened a fortnight after he submitted a memorandum to the then President, R. Venkataraman, signed by 50,000 workers, alleging threat to him and other union leaders by some industrialists in Bhilai. After a six-year trial, in which 190 witnesses were examined, the trial court in Durg sentenced six persons, including two industrialists, to life.

They were also fined Rs. 10 lakh each. Paltan Mallah — the hired assassin — was sentenced to death. But in 1998, all of them were exonerated by the High Court for lack of evidence.Appeals were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the acquittal and after marathon hearings, the judgment was reserved today.

Niyogi had formed the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha — an umbrella organisation of unions and leaders.

Even 13 years after his murder, the ashes of Niyogi are still to be immersed as his followers had taken a vow to immerse them only after the culprits are punished.

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