A special CBI court in Lucknow on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the murders of two chief medical officers in the Uttar Pradesh Family Welfare Department in 2010 and 2011. The court also fined the guilty Anand Prakash Tiwari 58,000 rupees, who was hired by the then Deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan of the UP Family Welfare Department. The court acquitted two other accused, Vinod Sharma and R.K. Verma, for lack of evidence.
The CBI claimed that various issues related to the alleged expenditure of NRHM funds were behind the motive for the murders. The chief medical officers, V.K. Arya and B.P. Singh, were slain during their morning walks in the posh Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow on October 27, 2010, and April 2, 2011, respectively, by bike-borne assailants six months apart.
The CBI spokesperson stated that it is alleged that Sachan hired contract killers, including Anand Prakash Tiwari, to eliminate Arya and Singh. The spokesperson added, "Y.S. Sachan's involvement was found in the local police investigations of both cases. However, due to his death during the probe, no chargesheet was filed against him."
Sachan was found dead on June 22, 2011, in the toilet of Lucknow's jail with deep wounds on his hand. The CBI, which investigated his death, submitted a closure report that claimed he had committed suicide.
The agency stated that although there were deep cut marks, there was "no unreachable injury" and no marks on his clothes. During the investigation of the two CMOs' murders, the CBI interrogated 45 witnesses for the prosecution, presented various documents, and cross-examined four witnesses for the defense. After filing charges in 2012, the CBI had stated, "Sachan, through a contractor, conspired with others and hired two shooters, all of whom were based in Uttar Pradesh."
The CBI had said, "The confidence of the accused increased after the murder of V.K. Arya, as the local police did not apprehend the real murderers in the relevant period, and they were emboldened to commit the second murder. The same weapon was used in both killings by the assassins."
The CBI's investigation into these cases revealed that the alleged expenditure of NRHM funds on various issues was behind the motive for Arya and B.P. Singh's murders.
