Bhartiya Kisan Union president Naresh Tikait
Almost a month after a Muzzafarnagar court acquitted BKU president Naresh Tikait in a 20-year-old murder case for lack of evidence, the district administration has recommended to the Uttar Pradesh government that it file an appeal against the order.
Additional District Sessions Judge Ashok Kumar had on July 17 this year acquitted Tikait, accused of killing farmer leader Chaudhary Jagbir Singh in 2003, stating that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
The district authorities have recommended to the state government's legal department with a draft to file an appeal in the Allahabad High Court against the local court's decision that acquitted Tikait, said Assistant Government Council Amit Kumar Tyagi on Wednesday.
Singh, the Rashtriya Kisan Morcha president, was reportedly shot dead at Ahlawalpur village under the Bhaurakalan police station limits in Muzaffarnagar on September 6, 2003.
Police registered a case against three people—Naresh Tikait, Bittu, and Praveen—on the basis of a complaint by Yograj Singh, the son of the dead Rashtriya Kisan Morcha president.
The investigation was later handed over to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID).
The CB-CID, during its investigation, gave a clean chit to Tikait, but the court summoned him in the case.
The other two accused, Bittu and Praveen, died during the pendency of the case. Only Tikait was facing trial.