New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass any urgent order on a plea by the wife of gangster Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva, who was shot dead in a Lucknow courtroom on Wednesday, seeking protection from arrest in a criminal case lodged against her.
“The stand is continuously shifting...let the matter be listed after vacation. There is no urgency for a hearing during the vacation,” said the bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal, taking note of the state government that Jeeva's funeral was performed on Thursday while his son attended the last rites while the slain gangster's wife Payal chose to stay away.
While Payal’s lawyer urged the bench to examine her plea for protection against arrest, the bench declined to entertain her plea, saying the petition was granted an urgent hearing only in view of the impending funeral of her husband.
“The stand is continuously shifting...let the matter be listed after vacation. There is no urgency for a hearing during the vacation,” added the bench.
Appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, additional advocate general Garima Prashad informed the bench that Payal chose not to attend the funeral of her husband despite the state’s undertaking to the court a day ago that she will not be arrested.
“She is the leader of the gang. Her husband was lodged in jail, but she is running the gang from outside,” Prashad said.
Multiple Cases Against Jeeva
A total of 26 cases, ranging from murder and extortion to robbery and cheating, were registered against 48-year-old Jeeva. These include the murder of two BJP leaders, Brahm Dutt Dwivedi and Krishna Nand Rai. He was convicted in the 1997 murder case of Dwivedi and was serving a life sentence in the case.
Along with gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari who mentored him, Jeeva was an accused in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, who was sprayed with bullets by a gang of assailants armed with assault weapons in Ghazipur district on November 29, 2005. officers said that Maheshwari was a close aide of Ansari, who helped him climb up the ranks in the world of crime.
