On Wednesday, a sessions court in Patna awarded death penalty to former MP Anand Mohan and three others accused in the connection with the lynching of a District Magistrate in Gopalhanj district of Bihar nearly 11 years ago. The Additional District and Sessions Judge Ram Krishna Rai has also awarded life imprisonment to Anand Mohan’s wife and former MP Lovely Anand in the same case.
Earlier on Monday, the sessions court judge had convicted Anand Mohan and his wife and five other accused in the lynching case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50) of IPC.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge Ram Krishna Rai had convicted Anand Mohan and Lovely Anand, JD(U) MLA from Lalganj, Vijay Kumar Shukla, former MLA Akhlaq Ahmed, Shashi Shekhar and Arun Kumar Sinha. The Sessions court judge also convicted Mohan, Lovely Anand and Arun Kumar Sinha under section 109 (abetment) of IPC.
G Krishnaiah was a 1985-batch IAS officer and at that time he was posted as DM in Gopalganj. On December 5, 1994, he was on his way back to his headquarters after a meeting at Hajipur. A mob was accompanying the cortege of Bihar People’s Party (BPP) leader Chotan Shukla had attacked on Krishnaiah.
According to the report, Anand Mohan, the then BPP chief and Lovely Anand were also present at the funeral procession with Munna Shukla, Akhlaq Ahmed, Shashi Shekhar and Arun Kumar Sinha. All seven political leaders were accused of having provoked the mob to kill Krishnaiah.
It was a retaliation of the encounter of Chhotan Shukla, an underworld don who also worked for the Bihar’s People’s Party. Chhotan was a close aide of Anand Mohan and the brother of Vijay Shukla.
The sessions court judge had acquitted 29 of the 36 accused in the case by giving them benefit of doubt in the same case.
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