The Allahabad High Court has suspended the conviction and sentence of a man found guilty in a 2017 murder case, noting that he hopes to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, The Hindu reports.
Nandlal Rai, also known as Babloo Rai, was convicted by a Varanasi sessions court in 2025 over the killing of Pramod Kumar Nigam, an activist in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. A two-judge bench granted him bail while his appeal is heard, observing that he had been a political figure and an active BJP worker before his conviction.
The judges cited a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that had suspended convictions of several elected representatives. Rai's lawyers argued that he was not named in the original police report and had been implicated on suspicion alone.
Source: The Hindu
