Rocky bail bares police probe gaps

Rocky, the son of suspended JDU MLC Manorama Devi and RJD strongman Bindi Yadav, is accused of killing Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva in a burst of rage triggered by the denial of right of way on the Bodhgaya-Gaya road on May 7 this year.

The most incriminating evidence against Rocky was the report of the forensic science laboratory, which established that the bullet that hit the slain boy was fired from the Beretta pistol owned by Rocky. Gaya senior superintendent of police Garima Malik had also confirmed it at her news meet soon after the arrest of Rocky from Gaya on May 10.

But inexplicably, the prosecution failed to bring the fact before the high court during hearing of Rocky's bail application.

Rocky's counsel, senior advocate Y.V. Giri, told the court that nobody saw Rocky open fire. The other glaring lapse on part of the investigation team was that the bloodstained clothes of Aditya were thrown outside the post-mortem room, leading to destruction of vital evidence.

The clothes were also not produced in the court. Instead, they were collected from the spot by Aditya's family members.

Despite admission of Rocky's father Bindi Yadav that his son had fired in self-defence, the prosecution again failed to put forth this fact before the court. Surprisingly, the police had seized the murder weapon barehanded and thus tampered with evidence.

The police, sources in know of the investigation said, didn't check the veracity of Rocky's claim that he was in Delhi when the incident took place. The police, the sources added, also didn't verify his travel ticket and other details, which could have helped the prosecution in tightening the noose around the accused.

Gaya city superintendent of police Awakash Kumar, who was part of the special investigation team formed to crack the case, however, claimed that the police gathered clinching evidence to substantiate the charges levelled against Rocky. "I can't say what went wrong in the court," he said, adding that he hoped the state government would move the Supreme Court against the high court order.

The order has come as a rude shock for Aditya's parents. "This is a very bad day for Bihar, I appeal to the government to save Bihar from jungle raj," said father Shyam Sunder Sachdeva. "We have all the evidence but still justice is denied. Money and power have again silenced the truth."

Earlier this month, RJD MLA from Nawada Raj Ballabh Prasad was granted bail by the high court in a rape case. Reliable sources say that the forensic report suggested that the rape survivor's clothes sent by the police had been washed, leading to destruction of evidence.

A PTI report said the government would file an appeal in the apex court.

"The state government is going to file an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the bail granted to Rocky Yadav by the Patna High Court," principal additional advocate general Lalit Kishore told PTI.