Ranchi: A Ranchi Court here on Tuesday convicted former Jharkhand minister Yogendra Sao and his wife MLA Nirmala Devi in the 2015 Barkagaon shootout case, while acquitting their son Ankit Raj Sakshi citing insufficient evidence.
A bench headed by Additional Justice Vishal Srivastava delivered the verdict. It will declare the quantum of punishment on March 24.
The court had reserved the decision during the last hearing on March 8 after arguments from both sides were concluded. Yogendra Sao attended today’s hearing via video conferencing, while Nirmala Devi and Ankit Raj were physically present in the court to hear the verdict.
The case dates back to 2015 when several people were shot dead during the ‘Kafan Satyagraha’ organized by Yogendra Sao and Nirmala Devi, along with the local residents in the Barkagaon village against the proposal of a mining plant by the NTPC. Several rounds of talks were held to pacify the protestors but all went in vain. The agitators even managed to stop the machines engaged in mining work, after which Nirmala Devi, the MLA of Barkagaon area, was arrested.
This enraged the villagers even more, who consequently started pelting stones at the officials. Amid the chaos, the villagers also managed to take Nirmala Devi out of police custody and help her abscond. The situation soon turned violent, wherein the police resorted to lathi-charge and firing at the crowd. In this violent episode of a brutal clash between agitators and the administration, several people had died, more than 2 dozen cases were registered, out of which Yogendra Sao has been acquitted in 11 cases but was convicted in one today.
