The Ara MP/MLA court on February 13 sentenced Manoj Manzil, MLA of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) from the Agiaon Assembly constituency to life imprisonment in a nine-year-old murder case. Along with Mr. Manzil, 22 others have also been sentenced to life imprisonment in the case related to the murder of one J.P. Singh during the 2015 Assembly election in Bihar. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on Manzil.
Manzil, a 40-year-old firebrand Dalit leader, was a first-time MLA, who won by defeating Janata Dal-United (JD-U) candidate Prabhunath Prasad in the 2020 Bihar Assembly election. In the 2015 Assembly election, too, he had contested from the same seat to secure the third position.
Soon after Judge Satyendra Singh pronounced the verdict, Mr. Manzil and others were taken into custody by the police at the Ara court, where he had reached along with hundreds of his supporters. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (Liberation) MLA from the Tarari Assembly constituency, Sudama Prasad, was also present to meet him.
