A joint bench of Justice V N Sinha and Justice Shivajee Pandey of the court granted bail to Pathak in the BJP legislator Raj Kishore Kesri's murder
case after hearing a petition in this connection, Pathak's lawyer said.
Kesri, a BJP legislator from Purnia constituency, was stabbed to death in broad daylight on January 4, 2011 at his residence by Pathak, who alleged that he and his close aide Bipin Rai had raped her for over three years.
According to the police, the MLA was killed when he was holding a janata darbar at his residence. Pathak, who visited him to offer New Year's greeting, stabbed him with a
After the incident, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the murder, but not the rape charge.
A special court tried Pathak. She was sentenced to life imprisonment on April 10, 2012 by the court.
Ironically, Pathak, in her mid 40s, a rape victim had to undergo a speedy trial while Bipin Rai, the other accused who allegedly raped her, is alive and free on bail.
Pathak had lodged a case in the local police station in 2007 against the MLA and Rai for sexual assault. She later retracted her statement in court.
In September 2010, she went back to court declaring that she had withdrawn her case against Kesri owing to pressure from her in-laws and "other people". The other people were later described by her as people in power.
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