D.P. Yadav sentenced for life for politician's murder

Mafia don-turned-politician D.P. Yadav was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI court for his involvement in the 1992 murder of former legislator Mahendra Singh Bhati.

Yadav's three accomplices -- Karan Yadav, Pal Singh alias Pala alias Lakkad as well as Praneet Bhati -- were also sentenced to undergo life imprisonment.

Fines ranging from Rs.45,000 to Rs.1.17 lakh were imposed on them.

D.P. Yadav surrendered to the court in Dehradun on Monday but excused himself from the proceedings on Tuesday, citing ill health.

The other three, who had surrendered on February 28, were in the court when the sentence was pronounced. Four other accused died during the prolonged trial.

Prior to his surrender, D.P. Yadav had tried to evade the court hearing on medical ground. After announcing he was guilty, the court asked the CBI, which probed the murder, to arrest him.

The Central Bureau of Investigation conducted three raids at his Ghaziabad residence but could not trace the notorious politician. He dramatically gave himself up at the trial court on Monday.

Bhati, a legislator from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, and his friend Udai Prakash were shot dead by seven or eight people on September 13, 1992 at a railway crossing while the victims were in a car.

The killings were then seen as part of the gang wars raging in western Uttar Pradesh.

The CBI took up the case on September 10, 1993.

D.P. Yadav began his formative political innings under former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav but later parted ways with him.

He was also in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). When he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, it created such a furore that the party showed him the doors within 24 hours.

He has been a member of the Uttar Pradesh assembly four times -- from Sahaswan and Bulandshahr in western Uttar Pradesh -- and also served as a member of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

His son Vikas Yadav was convicted for the murder of Nitish Katara, a bureaucrat's son, and is currently in jail.