Sushil Srivastava Murder : Supreme Court Allows Son To Seek Police Protection; Admits Appeal Against Acquittal Of Accused

Following the acquittal of 5 accused in his father's murder case, the Supreme Court recently allowed slain gangster Sushil Srivastava's son to seek police protection.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan passed the order, while admitting an appeal filed by Srivastava's son (petitioner) against the Jharkhand High Court judgment which acquitted 5 prime accused in the case and ordered their release.

"it shall be open for the appellant to prefer an appropriate representation addressed to the DGP of the State, requesting for an appropriate police protection. If any such representation is preferred, the DGP shall look into the same at the earliest and see to it that the needful is done in the matter in accordance with law", the Court said.

To recap, the case arises out of an incident of 2015, when dreaded criminal Sushil Srivastava and his 2 companions were shot to death inside the Hazaribag Civil Courts complex. The assailants opened fire using AK-47 rifles when Srivastava was returning after production before a Court and even threw a hand grenade. Pursuant to the attack, Srivastava and his companions suffered gunshot injuries and eventually died.

After investigation and filing of chargesheet, charges was framed in the case under Sections 120B, 341/120B, 353/120B, 307/120B, 302/120B of the IPC, Sections 25(1A)/35, 26/35, 27(3) of the Arms Act and Sections 3/4/5 of the Explosives Substance Act.

In 2020, the Hazaribagh Sessions Court convicted 5 accused - Vishal Tiwary, Santosh Pandey, Vishal Kumar Singh, Dilip Sao and Rahul Dev Panday. All of them were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

Against their conviction, the accused approached the High Court. By the impugned judgment dated February 18, the High Court acquitted the accused citing lack of evidence. It was opined that the investigation was influenced by newspaper reports and no conspiracy between the accused was forthcoming.

"The theory of conspiracy is built up on the purported enmity existing between Sushil Srivastava and Vikas Tiwary. None of the features assorted by the prosecution demonstrates that a conspiracy was indeed hatched by the appellants and the murder of Sushil Srivastava was the ultimate outcome of such conspiracy."

Aggrieved by the High Court's acquittal, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave appeared for the petitioner.

Case Title: AVIK KUMAR SRIVASTAVA v. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND, Crl.A. No. 1451-1453/2026

Click here to read the order