LI Network
Published on: 19 May 2023 at 17:23 IST
The Supreme Court has instructed the Bihar government to present the original records regarding the remission granted to Anand Mohan, a former Member of Parliament, who was imprisoned for his involvement in the suicide of IAS officer G. Krishnaiah.
The apex court emphasized that no further adjournment would be permitted and scheduled the hearing of the plea filed by the wife of the deceased bureaucrat for 8 August.
Anand Mohan, who was a gangster-turned-politician, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for leading a mob that lynched G. Krishnaiah in 1994. At the time of the incident, Krishnaiah served as the district magistrate of Gopalganj in Bihar.
After the incident where Anand Mohan was involved in the lynching of bureaucrat G. Krishnaiah, it was revealed that Krishnaiah was beaten to death when his vehicle attempted to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district.
Anand Mohan was released from Saharsa Jail on 27 April, after spending 14 years in prison, due to an amendment in Bihar’s prison rules. However, Uma Krishnaiah, the wife of the deceased officer, approached the Supreme Court, arguing that a life sentence should mean imprisonment for the entire natural life and should not be mechanically interpreted as just 14 years.
On 8 May, the Supreme Court sought a response from the central government and the Bihar government regarding the decision to release Anand Mohan prematurely.
The remission given to Mohan was a result of an amendment made to the Bihar Prison Manual on 10 April by the Nitish Kumar government. This amendment removed the restriction on the early release of individuals involved in the killing of a public servant on duty.
Anand Mohan, a two-time Member of Parliament from the now-defunct Bihar People’s Party, was part of the funeral procession that attacked the IAS officer.
Critics argue that the prison rules were modified by Nitish Kumar to secure the release of Mohan, who is a powerful Rajput leader. They claim that Mohan’s release could strengthen the anti-BJP grand alliance that the Bihar chief minister is attempting to form.