Ananda Margis behind killing of LN Mishra: CBI tells court

New Delhi: The CBI on Friday told a Delhi court that erstwhile Railway Minister LN Mishra was killed in 1975 in a bomb blast executed by the members of Ananda Marga group as he had the influence over Bihar government and was hinderng the release of their guru, arrested in a murder case.

Continuing final arguments in the 37-year-old murder case, Special Public Prosecutor NK Sharma told Additional District Judge Vinod Goel that the motive of the accused in killing Mishra was to put pressure on the government to release Ananda Marga founder Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. Three members of the sect along with an advocate are facing trial in the case. Sarkar was lodged in a Bihar jail on charges of criminal conspiracy and murder of Ananda Margis who had defected from the sect. "Some time after July 1974, there was a decision (of revolutionary group of Ananda Margis) to kill LN Mishra as he was considered to be the most important minister at the Centre and had influence over the state (Bihar) government. "Their sole purpose was to get babaji (Sarkar) released from the jail and to put pressure on the government," he said. The case related to LN Mishra`s assassination in a bomb blast at a function at Samastipur railway station in Bihar on January 2, 1975. He had succumbed to his injuries next day. Advocate Ranjan Dwivedi, who was 24 years old at that time, was named as an accused along with four Ananda Marga group members, one of whom has died. Apart from Dwivedi, three other accused in the case are Santoshananda Avadhuta, Sudevananda Avadhuta and Gopalji. The prosecutor argued that the Ananda Margis were so much devoted towards their guru Sarkar that they agreed to do the "most illegal and violent" acts for his release from the jail. PTI