Lalit Narayan Mishra

Lalit Narayan Mishra (February 2, 1923 – January 3, 1975) was Minister of Railways in the government of India from 1973 to 1975. He was brought into politics by the first Chief Minister of Bihar, Krishna Sinha, when he was made parliamentary secretary at his insistence to the First Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1975, he died in a bomb blast at Samastipur railway station. The court case in was delayed for years and was finally completed in December 2014.

Indira Gandhi blamed "foreign elements" for the murder, probably referring to the CIA. His brother Jaganath Mishra refutes the claim that LN Mishra or Indira Gandhi had received any bribe from the KGB as alleged in the Mitrokhin Archives; the Congress Party describes the book as "pure sensationalism and vague". On 26 July 2012, the Supreme Court stated that it will go into the causes of delay as even after 33 years, the trial is yet to conclude in the session court. As of July 2013, the 27-year-old man accused of the murder is now an ailing 65. Of the 39 witnesses he cited to prove his innocence, 31 have died. More than 20 different judges have heard his case over the years, supposedly on a day-by-day basis. After 39 years of trial, On 8 Dec 2014 four men accused of his murder have been found guilty by a Delhi court. A fifth accused in the case has died. Three Ananda Marga followers Santoshanand, Sudevanand and Gopalji along with advocate Ranjan Dwivedi were held guilty of murdering Mishra and two others. They were sentenced to life imprisonment by distict judge and were fined amount ranging from Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000. The court noted that Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, the religious leader of Ananda Marga, was jailed following his accusations in a murder case so his followers murdered Mishra to build pressure on Indira Gandhi government to release Sarkar. Sarkar was later acquitted. The court also noted that the six Ananda Marga followers met at a village in Bhagalpur district, Bihar and planned the conspiracy in 1973.