Pappu Yadav acquitted in Ajit Sarkar murder case

PATNA: Jailed controversial former RJD MP Pappu Yadav was today acquitted in CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar murder case by Patna High Court which set aside his conviction and life imprisonment awarded to him by a lower court in 2008.

A division bench comprising justices V N Singh and K K Lal acquitted Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and two other accused - Rajan Tiwari and Anil Kumar Yadav - of all charges in connection with the 1998 killing of Ajit Sarkar for want of evidence.

The court also directed the authorities to release Yadav from jail forthwith if he was not wanted in any other case.

Sarkara, a former CPI(M) legislator, was shot dead by unidentified persons in Purnia district on June 14, 1998.

CBI probed the case in which former RJD MP, Tiwari and Yadav were charged.

Yadav is a four-time MP and won elections to the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1999, and 2004 while party hopping but was debarred from contesting 2009 general elections due to his conviction in the case.

The politician had been in news for various misdemeanours during his stints in Beur Jail and Tihar prisons in Delhi including holding a 'durbar' of a large number unauthorised visitors in November, 2004 and illegally using cell phone.