Rajdeo Ranjan murder case: Witness declared 'dead' by CBI appears in Bihar court

Badami Devi, the main witness in the murder of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, claimed that the CBI had filed her death report in the court on May 24.

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New Delhi: In a shocking revelation a witness in journalist Rajdeo Ranjan's murder case who was declared dead by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appeared before the Muzaffarpur court in Bihar. After the incident, the court issued a show-cause to the central investigation agency for submitting a false death report, petitioners' counsel Sharad Sinha told ANI. The additional sessions judge-cum-special judge of the court, Punit Kumar Garg served the notice to CBI and directed it to submit its reply before June 20, which is the next date of hearing.

Badami Devi, the prime witness in the murder of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, claimed that the CBI had filed her death report in court on May 24. “When I learnt that the CBI had filed my death report in the court, I went into shock. It was disheartening and painful for me. Then, I appeared before the court with a voter identity card, Pan card and Aadhaar card,” she said.

Earlier, CBI had sought summons for the examination of witness Badami Devi, which the court had issued. However, on May 24 the central probe agency declared her dead and also submitted her death verification report before the court.

Badami Devi appeared before the court on Friday with her documents and affidavit. “I have been staying at my Kasera Toli residence in Siwan. I was made a witness in the case but no CBI official met me. However, the CBI declared me dead, which I came to know through newspapers. It is a conspiracy,” she said in her affidavit.

“The act of the premier institution of investigation appears to be suspicious. Now there is no hesitation to say that CBI has done this kind of work in connivance with another witness. It is submitted that CBI is playing a big game to implicate falsely the accused persons, especially Vijay Kumar and Azharuddin Beig,” the petitioners’ counsel Sharad Sinha told the court.

Rajdeo Ranjan, the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of HT Media, was shot dead at a busy market near Station Road on May 14, 2016. The CBI took over the probe of the murder of the Bihar journalist in September 2016.