The Uttar Pradesh government has informed the Supreme Court that it has rejected the latest premature release plea of gangster Om Prakash Srivastava, alias Babloo Srivastava, who is serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of an additional customs collector.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was told by Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad that the gangster was convicted of serious offences, including under the anti-terror law.

"The recent petition for premature release has been dismissed by the competent authority which in this case is the office of governor on November 6," she told the bench.

Prasad further contended that Srivastava has approached the court with "unclean hands" and has not disclosed the status of the petitions he has filed for premature release.

"He has been filing a petition for remission every now and then. His first petition was dismissed in 2016," she submitted.

The bench, in its order dated November 8, asked the counsel for Srivastava to file all the orders and case records of all the petitions he has filed till now.

Srivastava, who is currently lodged in Bareilly Central jail, has moved the apex court seeking direction to the state government for consideration of his plea for premature release. The latest petition, which was rejected on November 6, was filed on June 24, 2021.

The gangster was allegedly once an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim but later became his enemy.

He was caught in Singapore by investigating agencies and extradited to India in 1995. He was wanted in 42 cases, including murder and abduction.

On September 30, 2008, the gangster was sentenced to a life term by a special TADA court in Kanpur in connection with the 1993 murder of customs officer LD Arora in Allahabad.

The investigation of this case was given to the CBI. Initially, the don was lodged in Naini Central Jail and then on June 11, 1999, he was transferred to the Bareilly Central Jail. His appeal against the conviction was also dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Srivastava has contended that he has served over 26 years in prison and has good conduct in jail, making him entitled to premature release as per the policy of the UP government.

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