Maheshwari, 48, was accused in the murder of two BJP leaders, Brahm Dutt Dwivedi and Krishna Nand Rai. While he was acquitted in the 2005 murder of Rai, he was convicted in the 1997 murder of Dwivedi. Dwivedi is the leader widely believed to have helped Mayawati in the 1995 ‘guesthouse’ incident.
Jailed gangster Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva, an aide of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was shot dead on the premises of a Lucknow court on Wednesday.
The assailant, who was dressed like a lawyer, has been detained, the police said. Maheshwari had been brought to court to attend a hearing in a criminal case when the accused opened fire at him. A woman standing nearby sustained a bullet injury.
Maheshwari, 48, had been accused in several criminal cases, including the murder of two BJP leaders, Brahm Dutt Dwivedi and Krishna Nand Rai. While he was convicted in the 1997 murder case of Dwivedi, he was acquitted in the 2005 murder of Rai.
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Brahm Dutt Dwivedi was the leader widely believed to have stepped in to protect now BSP chief Mayawati when she was attacked by Samajwadi Party workers in the infamous 1995 guesthouse case.
Who was Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva?
Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva hailed from Muzaffarnagar, son of Om Prakash Maheshwari and Kunti Maheshwari. He has three sons and a daughter with wife Payal, who had contested the 2017 Assembly election from Muzaffarnagar on an RLD ticket and lost.
According to the police, Sanjeev Maheshwari was accused in 24 cases, out of which he had been acquitted in 17. He was involved in cases of murder, kidnapping, extortion, dacoity in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Hardiwar, and Farrukhabad regions.
Acquittal in Krishna Nand Rai murder
In 2019, a Delhi court acquitted Maheshwari along with co-accused Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari for the murder of then BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and six others. All eyewitnesses and material witnesses had turned hostile in the case.
Rai, then MLA of Mohammadabad, had defeated Afzal Ansari in the 2002 Assembly polls. He was murdered along with six others on November 29, 2005, when some people with automatic and semi-automatic weapons waylaid them and opened fire on his vehicle.
Conviction in the Brahm Dutt Dwivedi murder
Brahm Dutt Dwivedi, then BJP MLA from Farrukhabad, was killed on February 10, 1997. His son, Sunil Dutt, had told The Indian Express in 2017 that his father was killed while he was seated in his car after attending a tilak ceremony in the City Kotwali area of Farrukhabad district. His gunner BK Tiwari was also killed in the attack, while his driver Rinku suffered injuries.
On July 17, 2003, the CBI court in Lucknow sentenced Maheshwari and former Samajwadi Party MLA Vijay Singh to life imprisonment in the case. Both convicts challenged the judgment in the High Court. In 2017, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad HC upheld the trial court judgment.
Brahm Dutt Dwivedi was widely believed to have stepped in to help Mayawati when SP miscreants had surrounded her room in a Lucknow guesthouse.
On June 2, 1995, Mayawati decided to withdraw support from the SP-BSP alliance government that had been in power since December 1993.
Senior BJP leader Rajendra Tiwari had told The Indian Express that in the evening, SP workers gheraoed the guesthouse where Mayawati was staying in Room No. 1 on the ground floor . “Mayawati had locked the door from inside and SP workers were outside. The then BJP MLA from Farrukhabad, Brahm Dutt Dwivedi, rescued Mayawati. He also contacted Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The BJP took Mayawati to Governor House, extended support to BSP, and Mayawati took oath as CM the next morning.”
First published on: 07-06-2023 at 18:45 IST
