New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Bihar government to produce original records on the remission granted to former Member of Parliament Anand Mohan — who was in jail for abetting the suicide of an IAS officer.
The apex court said no further adjournment would be granted and listed the plea by the slain bureaucrat’s wife for 8 August.
Gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan was sentenced to life for leading a mob that lynched bureaucrat G. Krishnaiah in 1994. Krishnaiah was the Gopalganj district magistrate at that time.
Krishnaiah was beaten to death after his vehicle tried to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district.
Mohan was released from the Saharsa Jail on 27 April — after spending 14 years in prison — following an amendment in Bihar’s prison rules.
The officer’s wife Uma Krishnaiah then approached the top court contending that a life term meant incarceration for the entire natural course of life and could not be mechanically interpreted to last just 14 years.
On 8 May, the apex court had sought a response from the Centre and the Bihar government on the decision to prematurely release Mohan.
The remission followed a 10 April amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual by the Nitish Kumar government – which did away with the restriction on early release of those involved in killing a public servant on duty.
Anand Mohan, a two-time MP from the now-defunct Bihar People’s Party, was part of the funeral procession which had attacked the IAS officer.
Critics have said the prison rules were changed by Nitish Kumar to free Mohan, who is a Rajput strongman. They said Mohan could add heft to the anti-BJP grand alliance that the Bihar chief minister is trying to stitch together.
Also read: Anand Mohan’s release shows criminals still call the shots in Bihar, just as centuries ago