UP govt recommended to file appeal against order acquitting Naresh Tikait

MUZAFFARNAGAR (UP), Aug 16 (PTI): Almost a month after a Muzzafarnagar court acquitted BKU
president Naresh Tikait in a 20-year-old murder case for lack of evidence, the district administration
has recommended to the Uttar Pradesh government to file an appeal against the order.
Additional District Sessions Judge Ashok Kumar had on July 17 this year acquitted Tikait, accused of
killing farmer leader Chaudhary Jagbir Singh in 2003, stating that the prosecution has failed to prove
its case.
The district authorities have recommended to the state government’s legal department with a draft
to file an appeal in the Allahabad High Court against the local court’s decision that acquitted Tikait,
said Assistant government council Amit Kumar Tyagi on Wednesday.
Singh, the Rashtriya Kisan Morcha president, was reportedly shot dead at Ahlawalpur village under
the Bhaurakalan police station limits in Muzaffarnagar on September 6, 2003.
Police registered a case against three people — Naresh Tikait, Bittu and Praveen — on the basis of a
complaint by Yograj Singh, the son of the deceased Rashtriya Kisan Morcha president.
The investigation was later handed over to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-
CID).
The CB-CID during its investigation gave a clean chit to Tikait, but the court summoned him in the
case.
The other two accused, Bittu and Praveen, died during pendency of the case. Only Tikait was facing
the trial.