The Allahabad High Court Tuesday asked the central government to respond to a plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder of Congress activist Mayankesh Shukla alias Rajjan in Uttar Pradesh.
Shukla was killed last month in Sultanpur district, some 150 km from Lucknow. His father Ram Chandra Shukla has accused Chandra Prakash, a legislator of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), of killing his son over political rivalry.
However, as police gave a clean cheat to the legislator, Shukla’s father later moved Lucknow bench of the high court, seeking a CBI inquiry into the case.
‘Taking up the writ petition, the court has asked the central government to file its counter affidavit,’ Mehmood Alam, counsel of Shukla’s father, told reporters here.
‘The next hearing in the case is scheduled after five days, which is the prescribed time for filing the counter-affidavit,’ he added.
In his complaint, Shukla’s father alleged that his son was a strong contender in the panchayat elections, but the BSP legislator, who represents the Gauriganj constituency in Sultanpur district, did not want him to contest the polls and therefore got him killed.
