Allahabad HC rejects bail pleas of ex-BSP MP in 1996 murder case

The Allahabad High Court has rejected the second bail applications of former BSP MP Kapil Muni Karwariya, his brother and former MLC Surya Bhan Karwariya, and co-accused Ramchandra Tripathi, who are serving life sentences for the 1996 murder of Samajwadi Party MLA Jawahar Yadav. The court had earlier rejected their first bail applications on 9 May 2023.

Jawahar Yadav was shot dead in Prayagraj's Civil Lines area on 13 August 1996. A trial court convicted the Karwariya brothers and their accomplices in 2019 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Another convict, former MLA Uday Bhan Karwariya, did not file a second bail application as his sentence was recently commuted by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Rejecting the pleas, the division bench of justices Salil Kumar Rai and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal observed that since May 2023, the defence repeatedly sought adjournments instead of arguing the main appeals on merits. The bench held that the gravity of the offence and the appellants' deliberate conduct in avoiding a final hearing disentitled them from seeking bail solely on the ground of prolonged incarceration.