SP MLA jailed for life in murder case

JHANSI: A special court in UP’s Jaluan on Monday awarded the life sentence to Samajwadi Party MLA Kaptan Singh Rajput and his brother Mangal Singh in a 12-year-old murder case. The legislator is now liable to be disqualified as per the orders of the Supreme Court in July 2013.
Special judge Sanjay Yadav had held the brothers guilty and acquitted six others in the case on Saturday.Kaptan had won from Charkhari in Mahoba district after the seat was vacated by BJP’s Uma Bharati, who won the Jhansi Lok Sabha seat.
In 2012, Kaptan and Mangal were named accused along with six others in the murder of dreaded gangster Kishunjee Dubey. On April 20, 2002, the gangster, who was lodged in Kanpur jail, had come to Jalaun for a court hearing under police protection when around half-a-dozen people shot at him near Town Hall. In his dying declaration, Kishunjee named Kaptan and Mangal as the prime accused.
Kaptan has a criminal background with around six cases against him, including under the Gangster Act and Arms Act. The first criminal case was lodged against him in 1997 while the latest was lodged in 2010 under section 143, 147, 504 and 506 of IPC in Orai.
Government sources told TOI that the governor may take suo motu note of Kaptan’s conviction and seek the Election Commission’s advice on his disqualification. The EC, which has quasi-judicial powers in this case, will then decide on Kaptan’s disqualification.
If the governor doesn’t take cognizance of the conviction, a petition for Kaptan’s removal can be moved independently. In this case as well, the petition will have to be moved by the governor for final approval and disqualification by the EC. Either way, it may take up to two months to process Rajput's disqualification.