A local court in the Gaya district of Bihar on Thursday convicted Rocky Yadav alias Rakesh Ranjan, son of suspended ruling party Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) MLC Manorama Devi, in a road rage case in which a teenage boy, Aditya Sachdeva, was gunned down in May last year. Three other accused were convicted along with him. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on September 6.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge-1 (ADJ-1) Sachchidanand Singh convicted Rocky Yadav, his father criminal-turned-politician Bindi Yadav, cousin brother Tenni Yadav and his lawmaker mother’s bodyguard Rajesh Kumar in the Aditya Sachdeva murder case. Aditya, a Class XII student, was shot dead allegedly for overtaking Rocky Yadav’s SUV while coming from Bodh Gaya to Gaya town on May 7, 2016.
Earlier in October last year, the Patna High Court had granted bail to Rocky Yadav in the case but after the state government challenged the High Court order, the Supreme Court cancelled his bail and he was forced to surrender again and sent to Gaya jail. Rocky Yadav’s father who was accused of sheltering him while he was on the run after the murder, however, was later granted bail. His mother Manorama Devi, an MLC of the JD(U) was suspended from the party by chief minister Nitish Kumar and was arrested after some liquor bottles were found from her house in dry Bihar. She too was grated bail after some time.
Aditya Sachdeva, 19, was driving home with friends from Bodh Gaya and they overtook the Land Rover car driven by Rocky Yadav which enraged him. Accompanied with his mother’s bodyguard Rajesh Kumar, Rocky Yadav forced Aditya Sachdeva and his friends to stop and he fired a bullet from his sophisticated Barretta pistol which pierced the rear windshield and hit Aditya Sachdeva from behind. He died on the spot.
The incident had triggered enrage in the state as Rocky Yadav was son of a strongman of Gaya Bindi Yadav and mother, a ruling party lawmaker. Three days later, Rocky Yadav was arrested from his father’s factory and was sent to jail. The trail began in the court but the four friends who were driving with Aditya Sachdeva in his car, later, turned hostile. The case, however, rested heavily on the evidences gathered by the investigating officials and the court found them guilty in the case. The quantum of punishment will be delivered on September 6.
Meanwhile, Shyam Sachdeva and Chanda Sachdeva, parents of Aditya Sachdeva have thanked god for the court’s decision and said “justice has finally prevailed”. They also thanked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar profusely and hoped for a severe punishment to the accused persons. “We don’t have words to thank chief minister Nitish Kumar for keeping his words”, Chanda Sachdeva told local journalists in Gaya.
