Life Imprisonment for Contract Killings: CBI Verdict on Uttar Pradesh Medical Officers’ Murders

A man was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special CBI court in Lucknow for killing two chief medical officers of the Uttar Pradesh family welfare department in 2010 and 2011. The convict, Anand Prakash Tiwari, was hired by Y S Sachan, the then deputy CMO in the UP family welfare department. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 58,000 on the convict. Two other accused, Vinod Sharma and R K Verma, were acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence. The CBI had claimed that the alleged misappropriation of NRHM funds was the motive behind the killings. The chief medical officers, V K Arya and B P Singh, were shot dead by bike-borne assailants in 2010 and 2011, respectively. According to the CBI spokesperson, it was alleged that Sachan had hired “contract killers”, including Anand Prakash Tiwari, to eliminate Arya and Singh. Sachan, who was found dead in a Lucknow prison toilet in 2011, was believed to be involved in the killings, but he was not charged due to his death during the investigation. The CBI examined 45 prosecution witnesses, exhibited various documents, and cross-examined four defense witnesses during the course of their investigation.