Murder case: HC quashes criminal proceedings against Nitish

Patna: The Patna High Court set aside the criminal proceedings initiated against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by a lower court in a 28-year-old murder case on Friday.

Justice A Amanullah passed the order on an application moved by Kumar, who heads the Janata Dal (United).

Kumar had challenged the proceedings initiated against him by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Barh, who took cognizance of an FIR lodged at the Pandarak police station in Patna district.

In the FIR lodged on November 16, 1991, Kumar, who was then the Samata Party MP from Barh, was named as an accused, along with others, for the killing of one Sitaram Singh, who was killed during the Lok Sabha polls that year.

The ACJM, Barh had initiated criminal proceedings against Kumar in 2009, which was challenged by the chief minister before the Patna High Court the same year.

Justice Amanullah, who had reserved his order on the petition on January 31, quashed the proceedings on Friday.

It comes as a relief to the chief minister with the opposition parties, especially the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), targeting him over his name figuring in the murder case.