It is not known whether it is a typing mistake or how this mistake happened, but in the Supreme Court’s decision in the Brij Bihari Prasad murder case, one of the accused and Gopalganj don Satish Pandey has been shown dead while he is alive. In the 40-page order of the Supreme Court that has been posted on the court’s website, Satish Pandey has been shown dead whereas Satish Pandey is safe in his village in Gopalganj. In the 40-page decision of the Supreme Court, the name of Satish Pandey has been mentioned 5 times, in which Pandey has been shown dead twice while not dead has been written in front of Pandey’s name thrice.
Former Bihar government minister and mafia Brij Bihari Prasad was murdered on 13 June 1998 in IGIMS hospital, Patna. On October 3, the Supreme Court had justified the release of six of the nine accused acquitted by the Patna High Court in the Brij Bihari Prasad murder case, while upholding the life sentence given to two accused by the lower court. About 15 people were made accused in the case.
It has been told that in this case, a separate trial is going on against Satish Pandey, Naga Singh of Mokama and some other accused. When the first charge sheet was filed in the trial court, they were absconding. Charges could not be framed against them, hence their case is going on separately. In the Supreme Court’s decision, shooter Shriprakash Shukla, former MLA Bhupendra Nath Dubey, former MLA Shashi Kumar Rai, Captain Sunil Singh as well as Satish Pandey have been declared dead. The rest of them have died but Satish Pandey is alive.
Dozens of cases were registered against Satish Pandey but he has now been acquitted in many cases. Satish Pandey’s younger brother Amarendra Pandey alias Pappu Pandey is a JDU MLA. Pappu Pandey has won from Kuchayakot seat for the third consecutive time. Satish’s wife Urmila Pandey and son Mukesh Pandey have also been the District Council President of Gopalganj. The Pandey family dominates the area, from contracts to leases to politics. Satish Pandey has come of age and now lives in his village.
On August 12, 2009, the trial court had given death sentence to 8 accused including Surajbhan Singh, Munna Shukla, Rajan Tiwari. One of the accused, Shashi Kumar Rai, was given a sentence of two years. All the accused had challenged this decision in the High Court. Five years later, on July 24, 2014, the High Court overturned the trial court’s decision and acquitted everyone.
The investigating agency CBI and Brij Bihari’s wife and former MP Rama Devi had approached the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision. In its decision last week, the Supreme Court had upheld the life sentence awarded to Munna Shukla and Mantu Tiwari by the trial court. The bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice R Mahadevan had justified the decision of the High Court to acquit 6 accused including Surajbhan Singh, Rajan Tiwari.