Thaindian News

Lucknow, May 17 (IANS) Ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and former Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Sen was Tuesday convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the abduction and murder of a young woman in Faizabad over three years ago.

Sen’s driver Vijay Sen and a close friend Seema Azad were also awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in the woman’s murder.

The sentence was pronounced in an open court by a special trial court presided by Judge Matambar Singh.

Daughter of BSP worker Yogendra Prasad, 24-year-old Shashi was abducted on Oct 22, 2007, while she was returning from the Saket Degree College, Faizabad, where she was a third-year law student.

Investigations revealed that she was last seen in the MLA’s car with the latter’s driver Vijay Sen on that day after which she remained untraceable. Anand Sen is the son of a prominent political leader, Mitra Sen Yadav, who switched several parties - from the CPI to the Samajwadi Party to the BSP.

About two weeks later, her body was found floating in the Gomati river in Sultanpur. The highly decomposed body could be identified from the wrist watch she was wearing. Shashi’s father identified the wrist watch that was recovered much later from a boatman, who had pulled it out of the floating body.

While the body had floated down the river, it was the boatman’s confession and recovery of the wrist watch that corroborated the girl’s identity.

Investigations revealed that Sen’s driver took Shashi to the MLA’s room in the Faizabad Circuit House, after which she was killed and the driver carried the body and dumped it in the Gomati river.

Anand Sen was handpicked by Mayawati to be sworn in as a minister in her government in 2007. Even at that time, there were several criminal cases pending against him.

It was only after his involvement in Shashi’s murder was exposed in the media that Mayawati dropped him from her government.