Ghazipur. After the death of Mafia Mukhtar Ansari, his terror came to an end, but there are many such pages in the chapter of his dark exploits, after turning which many truths will come to light. The pain of those people who lost their loved ones untimely will also come to light.
Mukhtar, who established his roots in the corridors of power and ran a crime business, had become a scourge for many families. After his death, the wounds of those victims were definitely healed, but the pain is still there. In this series, one name comes from the family of former BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.
The entire state was shaken…
The entire state was shaken by the murder of senior BJP leader Krishnanand Rai, who was a victim of mafia Mukhtar. Mukhtar Ansari’s name had surfaced on November 29, 2005 as part of a conspiracy to murder seven people, including the then BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. That day the MLA was returning after inaugurating a cricket competition in Siyari village.
The attackers had carried out the incident near the damaged culvert of Basniya on Lathudih-Kotwa Narayanpur road. After this, Krishnanand Rai’s wife Alka Rai and son Piyush Rai had to face difficulties for a long time.
All the family members are heartbroken after losing the head of the household. Spent years struggling to get justice. During this time, a threatening letter was also sent to Alka and her son. The witnesses in the case were even made traitors by threatening them.
Despite all this, the family continued the fight by maintaining faith in the judiciary. His family members did not accept defeat in front of Mukhtar till the end. Not only this, Krishnanand’s family members could get security after nine years in 2014 when the BJP government came to power at the Centre.
Murder conspiracy hatched after political defeat
On the day of the incident, the entire Purvanchal was shaken by the firing of about 500 rounds of bullets from modern weapons. The brutality of the incident and the fearless shooter, after killing seven people, even chopped off the head of the then MLA Krishnanand Rai.
In fact, in the 2002 assembly elections, Krishnanand Rai had hoisted the lotus flag by defeating Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari from his stronghold Muhammadabad. The Ansari brothers were afraid of losing their political ground to Rai. Therefore he was removed from the way.
Post mortem not conducted after death of key witness
Shashikant Rai, resident of Siyari, the key witness of the Krishnanand Rai murder case, died under suspicious circumstances after eight months. The gunner was not with him on the day of the incident. It was suspected that he was poisoned to death. It is said that the authorities did not conduct post-mortem so that the truth would come out.
The witnesses against Afzal and Mukhtar had turned hostile.
Among the key witnesses, Birpur resident Ramesh Rai and Harihar resident Dabboo Rai were so scared that they retracted their statement in the 120B case against Mukhtar and his brother Afzal Ansari. This was the reason why Mukhtar and Afzal were acquitted by the CBI court. However, later, after the coming of the BJP government in the Center and the state, the MP-MLA court of Ghazipur found both of them guilty in the case registered under the Gangster Act. Mukhtar was sentenced to 10 years and Afzal to four years.
Using the influence of the government and administration, the Ansari family left no stone unturned to intimidate the witnesses in the case. A threatening letter was found in a house in Banaras in 2012. It was written that there would be consequences for testifying. Many times they helped in threatening the witnesses by making them talk to the gunner deployed with them. The family was not given security during the testimony for many years during the SP-BSP regime. Police people used to come and check the houses in the name of security. Used to search the entire house.
-Piyush Rai, son of Krishnanand Rai.