The Supreme Court on Thursday was apprised by a super-speciality hospital here that Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, facing life term in the MLA murder case, would undergo spinal surgery on October 19.
Yadav was awarded life imprisonment by a Dehradun CBI court in 2015 for his role in the murder of Mahendra Singh Bhati, an MLA from Ghaziabad's Dadri area. The lawmaker was shot dead at Dadri railway crossing in December 1992.
Yashoda Superspeciality Hospital at Ghaziabad, in its medical report filed in pursuance of an earlier order, told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that Yadav's viral fever has gone now and he would be operated upon by using local anaesthesia on October 19.
The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, considered the report and extended the interim bail of the controversial politician for undergoing the surgery. It also directed the hospital to furnish a fresh report on October 22 and fixed the matter for hearing a day after.
After perusing the report, the court today said the surgery, which was said to be a complicated one, can be done through laproscpoic method by using local anaesthesia.
Earlier, the apex court had directed the hospital to furnish a report whether Yadav was fit to undergo spinal surgery and had cautioned him against taking any "undue advantage".
The bench, which had earlier granted an interim bail for 15 days to Yadav for undergoing pre-operation tests, had taken strong note of the fact that the tests have not been done on the ground that he was having viral fever and had warned that it would send him back to jail.
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Yadav, whose appeal in the Uttarkhand High Court against the 2015 trial court verdict is pending, had moved the top court for grant of bail for undergoing the surgery.
The High Court, on June 14 this year, had rejected the bail plea of Yadav.
The apex court, on September 18, had granted interim bail for 15 days to Yadav on a condition that he will get himself admitted as in-patient in Yashoda Superspeciality Hospital for the requisite pre-operative checks.
It had also asked him to deposit a bail bond of Rs 1 crore and two sureties of like amount for getting the interim bail.
Besides Yadav, the trial court had also convicted Pal Singh, Karan Yadav and Praneet Bhati for offences of murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy of the IPC in the murder case.
The case was transferred to CBI court at Dehradun in the year 2000 on the direction of the Supreme Court after doubts were expressed about a fair trial in the case in Uttar Pradesh where Yadav was an influential politician.