The CBI today approached the Supreme Court challenging a Patna High Court order granting bail to RJD leader and former MP Pappu Yadav in Ajit Sarkar murder case.
The Patna high court had granted bail to Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, undergoing life imprisonment in the murder case, on February 18 last year.
Challenging the high court's order, the investigating agency pleaded before a bench, comprising justices GS Singhvi and Asok Kumar Ganguly, that the bail order be quashed.
The bench, however, refused to pass any order as justice Ganguly recused himself from hearing the case.
The Patna high court had granted bail to the former RJD Lok Sabha member from Madhepura who was undergoing the prison for the murder of CPI-M MLA Sarkar over a decade ago.
Special CBI judge B M Srivastava had on February 14, 2008, pronounced Yadav, former independent MLA Rajan Tiwari and Anil Yadav guilty and awarded them life terms.
Sarkar, a firebrand CPI-M MLA, who had a running feud with Pappu Yadav over issues relating to farm labourers, along with his driver Harendra Sharma and party worker Ashfaqur Rehman, were gunned down at Subhas Nagar in Purnea town on June 14, 1998.
Yadav was convicted under sections 302 (murder) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC for plotting the murder of Sarkar which was executed by Rajan Tiwari and others.