Five Naxals convicted for murder of DFO

A special court in Bihar today convicted five Naxals for the murder of Divisional Forest Office Sanjay Kumar Singh in Sasaram in 2002.
The then Commander of Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) Nirala Yadav and his three aides -- Ram Bachan, Lalan Singh and Nitish Kumar Oraon -- have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while another convict, Sudama Uraon, has been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the court.
CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said here today that the agency had registered a case on March 22, 2002 on the request of the Bihar government.
"It was alleged that on February 14, 2002, a few persons of village Rehal had gone to village Daleli, District Garhwa (Jharkhand) for the marriage of Lalmuni alias Bilath Yadav with Shail Devi and were to return on February 15, 2002," Gaur said.

He said a group of Naxalites armed with weapons under the leadership of Nirala Yadav had gathered in village Rehal to create trouble for the marriage of Shail Devi whose marriage was earlier fixed with Ram Bachan Yadav, a Naxalite.
"Later, marriage of Shail Devi was finalised with Lalmuni as her family members came to know about Ram Bachan Yadav being a worker of MCC. On February 15, 2002, when Sanjay Kumar Singh, DFO, Shahabad Division, Sasaram (Bihar) and his officials reached the Forest Range Office in village Rehal, they were surrounded by the Naxalites," he said.
Gaur said Rs 5 lakh was demanded from the DFO by the Naxalites, but he refused to pay.

"Singh was forcibly taken away from the village to a jungle by the Naxalites and shot dead on the instructions of Nirala Yadav," he said.