M A I N   N E W S

Sex-tainted MLA stabbed by woman, dies
Sanjay Singh
Tribune News Service

Patna, January 4
BJP MLA from Purnea Raj Kishor Keshri (51) was stabbed to death by a woman visitor on Tuesday morning under mysterious circumstances while he was meeting visitors at his residence in the constituency. The bodyguards and supporters of the MLA immediately overpowered the assailant and thrashed her badly before the police took her in custody.

According to SP, Purnea, Naiyyar Hasnain Khan, the MLA was meeting some visitors at his residence when the woman identified as Rupam Pathak arrived. She expressed desire to meet the MLA alone to which his bodyguards objected. But the MLA took her into an adjacent room where she stabbed him fatally with an assault knife. The profusely bleeding legislator was rushed to a nearby hospital but he succumbed to his injuries immediately as his spleen and the main artery had been punctured by the dagger.

The modus operandi and the assault weapon used in the killing suggest that the woman had come determined to kill the MLA, said the SP. Incidentally, the assailant had lodged a case of rape against the MLA and one of his lieutenants named Bipin Rai in May, 2010, but within a fortnight she wanted to withdraw the case by swearing in through an affidavit that she was misled by some people to lodge a case of rape against the MLA.

The police did not take cognisance of her affidavit and asked her to get her statement recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC in front of a magistrate and she did that as well. Following this, the investigating officer submitted a final report in the court saying there was no evidence to substantiate the charge of rape.

According to the police, assailant Rupam Pathak is a middle age woman from the Madhubani locality in Purnea town. She was living with her husband and in-laws in Nagaland, but after some marital discord she came back to her hometown and opened a private school.

She had invited the local MLA to be the chief guest during the opening ceremony of her school. Suddenly she lodged an FIR against the MLA and one of his supporters on May 28 , 2010 charging them with sexually exploiting her.

But within a fortnight she took a U turn and wanted to withdraw her complaint and finally on June 18, 2010 she gave a confessional statement before a Magistrate that she had levelled false charges against the MLA on being instigated by his detractors.

After stabbing the MLA she was overheard shouting hysterically “Keshri paapi hai wo nahi mar sakta hai.” (Keshri is a sinner and he cannot die easily).

The news of MLA’s killing spread like a wild fire and it sparked tension in his constituency. All the business establishments kept their shutters down in Purnea town through out the day today. In view of the tension the police had to shift the injured assailant woman to the adjacent district of Katihar for treatment.

The police described her to be an unpredictable and eccentric woman who had assaulted her father in law earlier. Her two children live with their father in the north- east. Her husband is a Central School teacher posted in Arunachal Pradesh at present.

Expressing his shock and dismay over the Purnea MLA’s killing, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered a high level probe by the range DIG of Purnea to ascertain the cause behind this incident. The Chief Minister also directed the DGP to review the security arrangements of all the Legislators. At the behest of Chief Minister, his deputy and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi will go to purnea to participate in the funeral procession and cremation of Keshri.

Keshri, a four-time MLA from Purnea, was quite popular among his constituents as well as his party men. He appeared to a down to earth person who had no air about his political status. He is survived by wife and three children. His eldest son studies in Delhi.