Rajasthan ex-royal ‘Raja’ Man Singh murder | 11 policemen including DSP sentenced to life imprisonment

Court directs Rajasthan government to compensate the families of the three victims and the four injured persons

July 22, 2020 04:34 pm | Updated 06:24 pm IST - LUCKNOW

Convicts in the ‘Raja’ Man Singh murder case are escorted out of a court in Mathura on July 22, 2020.

Convicts in the ‘Raja’ Man Singh murder case are escorted out of a court in Mathura on July 22, 2020.

A Mathura court on Wednesday sentenced 11 policemen including a then Deputy SP to life imprisonment for the murder of ‘Raja’ Man Singh , then titular head of the Bharatpur erstwhile princely state in Rajasthan, in 1985.

A lawyer for the accused read out the Court’s decision before mediapersons a day after the 11 policemen were convicted of the crime.

Three policemen, who were accused of forging the general diary entries and facing charges under Section 218 of the IPC, however, had been acquitted.

Narayan Singh, lawyer for Man Singh’s family, also said the 11 cops including then DSP Kan Singh Bhati and SHO Virendra Singh were awarded life imprisonment for the murder. The court also directed the Rajasthan government to compensate the families of the three victims and the four injured persons with ₹10,000 and ₹2,000 each respectively, he said.

Of the 18 persons initially accused, three died during trial, while one had been discharged, said Mr. Singh.

Apart from Kan Singh Bhati (82) and Virendra Singh, the other persons convicted by the Mathura Sessions court judge Sadhna Rani Thakur are Bhanwar Singh, Padma Ram, Ravi Shekhar Mishra, Jeevanram, Sukhram, Hari Singh, Sher Singh, Chattar Singh and Jagmohan.

The case had led to a political storm in the State leading to the resignation of the then Rajasthan Chief Minister.

Raja Man Singh of Bharatpur.

Raja Man Singh of Bharatpur.

 

The incident took place on February 21, 1985 when Man Singh, then 64, and his two associates were shot dead by police a day after he had allegedly battered his military jeep into the stage set up for an election rally of Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur. The jeep had also damaged a chopper kept at the site for the CM.

Dushyant Singh, the deceased’s grandson, says Man Singh, who was the third son of ‘Maharaja’ Krishn of Bharatpur, was first elected as an MLA from Rajasthan in 1952 and was undefeated till his death.

Man Singh even resisted the waves of 1977 (Indira Gandhi) and 1980 (Janata Party) to win as an independent. In the 1985 Assembly elections, the Congress fielded Brijendra Singh, a retired IAS officer, against Man Singh from Deeg seat.

During the campaign, an irate Man Singh damaged the stage and the chopper in reaction to some Congress workers insulting the Bharatpur flag, said Mr. Dushyant.

“On February 21, 1985 Raja Man Singh along with Thakur Hari Singh, Thakur Sumer Singh and others was going to the Deeg police station to surrender when the then deputy SP Kan Singh Bhati and other policemen fired indiscriminately at him near the Anaj Mandi as part of a well-planned conspiracy,” said Mr. Dushyant in a statement.

Man Singh and his two associates died on the spot and two days later Mathur had resigned.

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