PATNA: The district court of Samastipur in Bihar has pronounced life sentence on 14 persons in the murder of a journalist Vikas Ranjan.
The journalist was killed on November 25, 2008 in Rosera sub-division in Samastipur district. The family members of the deceased had levelled allegations against 14 persons including Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) block president of Rosera, Swayamwar Yadav.
Heera Devi, the prosecution lawyer in this case, said that journalist Vikas Ranjan was killed over a land dispute. The dispute was with his cousin brothers in his native village. The judgement came 13 years after the incident.
"The relatives of Vikas Ranjan hatched the conspiracy to kill him. They hired goons to eliminate him. His body was found on November 25, 2008 in Rosera," Heera Devi said.
"We produced strong evidence including the life threatening audio and video clips in the court of law. The accused had threatened Vikas Ranjan and his family with dire consequences several times in broad daylight. We also produced many eye witnesses in the court which helped get justice," she said.
