Babu Khan granted bail by Allahabad High Court in Shravan murder case

Babu Khan granted bail by Allahabad High Court in Shravan murder case

Lucknow, The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has granted bail to Babu Khan, a convict in the high-profile Shravan Sahu murder case.

Babu Khan granted bail by Allahabad High Court in Shravan murder case

The court extended bail to Khan on the grounds of parity, noting that co-accused Ajay Patel had been granted bail on April 21, 2025. At that time, the court observed that the prosecution had failed to present any prima facie evidence against Patel for conspiring to murder Sahu.

The vacation bench comprising Justice Pankaj Bhatia and Justice Chhitij Shailendra approved Khan's bail plea, which was filed along with his appeal challenging the trial court's verdict, according to the order dated June 24.

A special CBI court had sentenced Khan to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1.10 lakh on August 22, 2024, for allegedly conspiring to kill businessman Shravan Sahu. The trial court convicted eight people in the case.

Khan challenged the conviction in the Allahabad High Court last year, and his bail application was approved by the vacation bench on June 24, 2025.

The murder of Sahu in 2017 was a result of a chain of violent events that began in 2013. The trouble started on October 16, 2013, when Shravan's son, Ayush Sahu, got into a dispute with the main accused, Aqeel Ansari, over buying beer at a bar in Lucknow's Hazratganj.

The altercation escalated, and Aqeel, along with his associates, murdered Ayush. Ansari was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime.

Shravan Sahu actively pursued justice for his son and was a key witness in the case. Fearing a harsher sentence due to Shravan's continued legal involvement, Aqeel conspired to have him eliminated.

On February 1, 2017, Shravan was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while he was sitting at the counter of his oil shop at Bada Chauraha Dalmandi in Lucknow. The attackers fled the scene after firing multiple rounds. Shravan was rushed to a trauma centre, where he was declared dead.

Shravan's other son, Sunil Sahu, filed a police complaint, naming Aqeel as the mastermind behind both murders. The CBI took over the investigation, producing 51 witnesses and more than 100 documents during the trial.