Journalist Murder Case: Lady witness declared dead by CBI, appears in court

Left: Journalist Rajdev Ranjan. Right: Witness Badami Devi

In a significant development in the murder case of Bihar journalist Rajdev Ranjan, a key witness who was allegedly declared dead by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appeared in court on Saturday.

The woman, Badami Devi, appeared before the judge in a civil court here and claimed that the CBI had declared her dead.

• "Huzoor (sir), I am alive. I have been declared dead by the CBI. This has been done under a well-thought-out conspiracy," the woman told the court.

In court, the woman presented identification documents such as a voter ID card and a PAN card.

According to the petitioner's lawyer - Sharad Sinha, Badami Devi was a key witness in the case, and a report filed by the CBI on May 24 declared her dead.

• Raising further questions on the CBI, Advocate Sinha called it a "big negligence" on the part of the investigating agency.

"It is big negligence on CBI's part. What will happen if the nation's biggest investigating agency will act like this?" Sinha asked.

He further stated that the CBI did not even contact the woman and declared the woman dead, moreover, a report was also submitted.

• A show-cause notice in the matter has been issued to the CBI by the court.

In May 2017, Hindi daily Hindustan's Siwan bureau chief – Rajdev Ranjan, was gunned down by motorbike-borne criminals near the busy Station Road at Siwan in north Bihar.

Ranjan's widow Asha Ranjan had sought direction for the registration of an FIR against RJD leader Shahabuddin and Tej Pratap Yadav for "conspiracy and harbouring and sheltering the proclaimed offenders" in the murder case.

In 2017, the CBI took custody of Mohammad Shahabuddin, whose name had cropped up as an accused in the investigation. However, in March 2018, the Supreme Court had closed proceedings against Tej Pratap in connection with this case.