FAMILY WANTS UNION MINISTER'S ASSASSINATION TO BE REINVESTIGATED

The late Railway Minister L.N. Mishra's family believes the real culprits were politically shielded in 1975. 48 years later, can they convince the courts?

- DEVIKA CHOPRA

India is no stranger to political assassinations and deaths under mysterious circumstances. Young India lost the father of the nation, M.K. Gandhi, to assassination merely one year into Independence. Then India witnessed the assassinations of two sitting Prime Ministers—Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Countless Indian political leaders have died under mysterious circumstances, including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Subhas Chandra Bose, Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, and Y.S.R. Reddy. In fact, India has also witnessed the tragic and untimely deaths of its key scientists such as Vikram Sarabhai and Homi Jehangir Bhabha.

While these high profile cases have gathered dust as “unnatural deaths”, they’ve at least received the attention they deserve. There are several Indian political leaders whose killings, followed by an alleged botched-up investigation, cover-up, and slow judicial process, has possibly resulted in the denial of justice. One such case is India’s former Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra.

In a political career spanning 22 years, L.N. Mishra served as a Parliamentary Secretary, Member of Parliament, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, and Finance, Minister of State for Defence Production, and Minister of Foreign Trade.