Patna: Nearly 29 years after the sensational murder of strongman Bhutkun Shukla, a Muzaffarpur court on Thursday sentenced the main accused, Deepak Kumar Singh, to life imprisonment.Additional District and Sessions Judge-10 Sarvesh Kumar Mishra convicted Deepak under IPC Section 302 for murder and awarded him life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000. In default of payment, he will undergo an additional six months of rigorous imprisonment. The court also convicted him under Section 27(1) of the Arms Act for using an illegal weapon and sentenced him to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000.Bhutkun, brother of slain strongman Chhotan Shukla and former Lalganj MLA Munna Shukla, was shot dead at his ancestral home in Khanzahachak village under Lalganj police station area on July 16, 1997.According to police, the killing was part of a carefully planned conspiracy. Deepak, a resident of Paru in Muzaffarpur, had allegedly worked as Bhutkun’s close aide and bodyguard for nearly two years, during which he gained his trust and gathered information about his daily routine and security arrangements.Investigators alleged that on the day of the murder, Bhutkun was cleaning and worshipping his weapons when Deepak opened fire with an AK-47 rifle, killing him on the spot. The accused then fled and remained absconding for years.Deepak resurfaced last year after being arrested in connection with another murder case involving Lalbahadur Singh, manager of the North Bihar Gramin Bank branch in Paru. Police alleged that the bank manager was murdered and his body was later found hanging inside the bank’s cash cabin.Named as an accused in the case, Deepak had been evading arrest for years. A court had issued an attachment order against him, while Bihar Police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for information leading to his arrest.He was eventually arrested by the Bihar STF from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and handed over to Paru police, paving the way for the conclusion of the long-pending Bhutkun Shukla murder trial.
