Verdict in 39-year-old Lalit Narayan Mishra murder case Nov 10

A court here fixed Nov 10 for delivering its verdict in 39-year-old murder case of then railway minister Lalit Narayan Mishra.

District Judge Vinod Goel set Nov 10 for verdict after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the defence counsel of the four accused concluded their final arguments, which had begun September 2012.

Mishra was killed in a bomb blast at a function at Samastipur railway station in Bihar Jan 3, 1975.

Gopalji, Ranjan Dwivedi, Santoshanand Avadhuta and Sudevananda Avadhuta are facing trial in the case. All belong from the Hindu sect Anand Marg.

Following the guidelines of the apex court, the lower court here, giving priority to the 39-year old murder case, began hearing the final arguments on the daily basis from September 2012.

Over 160 prosecution witnesses, five court witness and around 40 defence witnesses were examined in this case.

The charges were framed against accused after six years of incident in 1981 after the case was transferred in Delhi by the order of the Supreme Court on 1979.

As railway minister, Mishra has gone to Samastipur on Jan 2, 1975 to declare open the Samastipur-Muzaffarpur broad gauge railway line. A bomb explosion on the dais seriously injured him. He was rushed to the railway hospital at Danapur where he died next day.

The CBI has alleged that Anand Margis has carried out the attack on Mishra to put pressure on the government for releasing one of the group's leader.

The apex court on August 2012 had dismissed the accused's plea on the grounds that the proceedings could not be terminated merely because they had not been concluded in the past 37 years and directed the trial court not to entertain any plea for unwarranted adjournment.