Charges, which included criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and other offences, were framed against seven other accused also.

The incident occurred in Civil Lines area on May 14, 2003. Property dispute was said to be the reason behind the murder.

Special Judge (Gangster Act) Vikar Ahmed Ansari framed the charges on Tuesday under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), along with 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. Besides, the charges have also been framed against the accused under various sections of the Gangster Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

The other accused against whom charges have been framed are: Ramchandra Mishra alias Lal Sahab, Prakash Chandra Mishra alias Munna, Prem Shankar Mishra, Gulab Shankar Mishra, Jeet Narayan Mishra, Dileep Kumar Mishra and Santosh Kumar Dubey. All the accused, mostly related to each other, were at present out on bail.

District Government Counsel Ranendra Pratap Singh said: “The legal process in the case has been moving at slow pace due to reasons like the case getting transferred from one court to the other. Also, the accused would manage to ensure that not all of them were present before the court on a given date for the charges to be framed, simply to delay the process. Now the process of examining witnesses and producing evidence would start.”

The investigation of the case was initially handled by the district police, but was later transferred to the CB-CID. “The chargesheet was filed by the CB-CID a few years ago. However, the prosecution could not move forward due to the delaying tactics of the accused,” said Singh.