Ranchi: The Ranchi Civil Court on Thursday awarded ten years of imprisonment to former Minister Yogendra Sao and his wife and ex- MLA Nirmala Devi in connection with the Barkagaon firing incident.
The duo has been awarded the punishment under separate sections of the IPC and fines have been also imposed on them. Present Barkagaon MLA Amba Prasad said that she would be appealing in a higher court against the decision of the court. She said that her parents have been deliberately framed in the case and they have been given the punishment as they had raised their voice against land loot in the area.
Amba had also urged the court to award them as much less punishment as possible. She said that her parents were staging the agitation not for their own interests but as elected representatives they were raising the issues of the people.
Amba alleged that on the directions of the previous government her parents had been implicated in the case and went on to point that if in this manner the elected representatives will be targeted then in the future they will think many times before raising the issue of people.
Former Minister Yogendra Sao who also appeared through video conferencing claimed that as part of the conspiracy he was framed in the case. Earlier on March 22 the court of Additional Judicial Commissioner Vishal Srivastav had held the duo guilty in the case and had acquitted their son Ankit over lack of evidence.
The court has awarded the punishment to the duo under sections 325,326,148,307,188,153 and 120 B. On October 1, 2016, a brawl had taken place in Chirudih of Barkagaon where a mob had first forcibly taken away Nirmala Devi who was then the MLA of Barkagaon from the hands of the police which had arrested her.
Later the angry mob indulged in stone-pelting which resulted in retaliation by the policemen and the subsequent firing led to the killing of four villagers. On October 2 a fir in this connection was registered at Barkagaon Police Station.