Supreme Court To Hear Tomorrow Plea Of Alleged Gangster Sanjeev Jeeva's Wife To Attend His Funeral

The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the plea of Payal Maheshwari, wife of alleged gangster Sanjiv Maheshwari 'Jeeva', seeking permission to attend his funeral.

Jeeva is said to be a close aide of Mukhtar Ansari and was shot dead by unidentified assailants inside the Lucknow court premises yesterday. His name had surfaced in the murder of senior BJP leaders Brahmadutt Dwivedi and Krishnanand Rai.

The matter was listed today before a vacation bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Rajesh Bindal.

Payal herself is charged as a gangster. Her counsel stated that he was arguing solely on humanitarian grounds and not on the merits of the matter. He argued that Payal Maheswari must be provided one day protection to attend the funeral.

However, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Additional Advocate General (AAG) Ardhendumauli K Prasad submitted– "She is one of the gangsters who is named in the chart. As far as funeral is concerned, I'm not even getting into that..."

At this juncture, the petitioner requested the court to ensure that no coercive action should be taken against Maheshwari in the meantime. The counsel for petitioner said– "I have to give this consolation to my family, my lord. The petitioner has three sons and one daughter."

The court was informed that the body of the deceased was to be taken from Lucknow to Muzaffarnagar- the family's hometown. The bench decided to hear the matter tomorrow (June 9 2023).

After Jeeva was shot dead, in an official statement, Lucknow Police Commissioner S B Shiradkar said, "Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva who was held in Lucknow jail was brought to the court for hearing in a case and was shot dead by unknown assailant."