SC issues notice on slain gangster’s wife seeking quashing of FIR under UP Gangster Act

The Supreme Court agreed to examine a plea filed by the wife of slain criminal Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva, seeking to quash the FIR registered against her under the UP Gangster Act

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea filed by the wife of slain criminal Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva, seeking to quash the FIR registered against her under the UP Gangster Act.

Jeeva, an aide of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari,was shot dead inside a courtroom in Lucknow on June 7. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Kumar issued notice and sought response of Uttar Pradesh government and others within a period of two weeks.

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It, however, refused to pass any interim direction protecting Payal Maheshwari from arrest. Senior advocate Siddharth Bhatnagar, instructed by advocate Aarif Ali, claimed that the petitioner was booked under Gangster Act to wreak vengeance after she secured bail in the base case.

The special leave petition claimed that the FIR was lodged for political considerations and the entire family has been falsely implicated. Payal Maheshwari in June had moved the top court claiming a threat to her life and also sought bail to attend the last rites of her husband. She did not attend her husband’s cremation after a vacation bench of the Supreme Court had declined an urgent hearing in the matter.

In May, the Allahabad High Court had refused to quash the criminal proceedings under Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 saying that the allegation in the first information report (FIR) constituted a cognisable offence. “The writ petition is therefore, dismissed without prejudice to the rights of the petitioner to apply for bail or anticipatory bail,” the high court had said. Jeeva, a dreaded shooter from Muzaffarnagar, was killed inside Lucknow court complex.

He was a co-accused in BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai murder, in which Ansari is also an accused. He began as a compounder and then became a member of the underworld. He was a close associate of Munna Bajrangi, who was shot dead in 2018 in Baghpat jail.