Few takers for professional jealousy as motive to kill UP’s first woman Bar Council President

Deceased UP Bar Council President Darvesh Yadav, who was shot dead in Agra by a fellow lawyer Manish Sharma, was cremated on Thursday at her ancestral village in Eta.

The condition of Manish Sharma, who had used his licensed revolver to fire three bullets while Yadav was sitting in the chamber of a senior Advocate in Agra, is stated to be serious. He was transferred to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon last night.

While the motive behind the shocking murder of UP’s first woman to be elected the Bar Council President barely two days before she was killed, is still shrouded in mystery, professional jealousy is said to have provoked Sharma, who tried to kill himself after shooting Yadav.

Darvesh Yadav had broken the glass ceiling against all odds. Youngest of three sisters and a brother, she had lost her father when she was barely seven years old. She struggled hard to come out of the daunting circumstances.

A popular lawyer in Agra, she was known to take up women’s causes. Both she and Manish Sharma began their practice together in 2004. The duo had also worked together for some time. She was elected the vice president of the Bar Council in 2012. This time she and her rival received equal number of votes in the election for Bar Council President and it was decided that both would officiate for six months each

Reports say that Sharma even participated in the victory celebration of Yadav but had walked away in a huff after some time. Their professional relationship was said to have been strained for some time and fellow lawyers claimed that Sharma had been persuaded to greet Yadav and attend a conciliation.

Family members of the deceased lawyer have demanded an independent inquiry into the murder. They are said to have alleged that the assailant had siphoned off money from the welfare fund of the state Bar Council.

Ironically Yadav was shot dead in the Agra court on Wednesday afternoon at a time when chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was holding a review meeting on law and order. Agra SSP Yogendra Kumar had taken charge on Tuesday and was in Lucknow for the meeting with the CM when the incident happened.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who too visited Darvesh Yadav’s village to condole her death, demanded adequate compensation for the family from the state government. Voicing her concern at growing lawlessness, he demanded firm action and not just review meetings by the CM.

Some Agra based lawyers claimed that the assailant had sustained superficial injury. “ While he shot Darvesh Yadav to kill, when he turned the revolver to himself, the bullet merely scraped his midriff,” claimed Shiv Shankar Yadav.