A former MP and JD(U) leader Anand Mohan was sentenced to death by a local court in Patna which also awarded life imprisonment to his wife, also an ex-MP, on October 3 in a murder case where the then Gopalganj District Magistrate was lynched by a mob 13 years back.
In a landmark verdict that is bound to have political ramifications, Additional Sessions Judge, Ram Krishna Rai also awarded capital punishment to two others –Akhlaq Ahmed, a former MLA from Bikramganj and RJD leader and Arun Kumar in connection with the brutal killing of G Krishnaiah. Besides Anand’s wife – Lovely Anand, a former MP from Vaishali – those who got life term are Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla, a sitting JD(U) MLA from Lalganj, Shashi Shekhar and Harendra Kumar.
Anand Mohan, a former MP from Sheohar who was leader of the then Bihar People’s Party (BPP) at the time of the murder, and his wife were accused of inciting a mob to lynch Krishnaiah. It is for the first time that a former MP was being sent to gallows.
The Court held all the seven accused guilty under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting) and 427 (mischief causing damage).
The Court held all the seven accused guilty under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting) and 427 (mischief causing damage).
Krishnaiah was lynched by a mob accompanying the cortege of a BPP leader Chotan Shukla on December 5, 1994. The officer was pulled out of a car, beaten up mercilessly and then shot dead. The BPP is now defunct. All the seven convicted were also fined Rs 25,000. The judge acquitted 29 of the 36 accused in the case giving them benefit of the doubt.