Former Bihar MP Anand Mohan, serving a life sentence in a three-decade-old case of an IAS officer's murder, was released from the jail in Saharsa on Thursday morning, three days after the Bihar government ordered his release.
Jail officials confirmed to ANI that Mohan walked free from the jail around 4.30 am on Thursday. Mohan's release was ordered by the state law department in a notification issued late on Monday, along with that of 27 others.
The former gangster-turned-politician spent 14 years inside the jail after a trial court awarded him capital punishment for the murder of G Krishnaiah, the then District Magistrate of Gopalganj. A higher court, however, commuted it to life imprisonment.
The news of his release was received with disappointment by the family of Krishnaiah who termed it "disheartening." The victim's daughter Padma also urged the government to reconsider the decision. "I request Nitish Kumar ji to give a second thought to this decision. With this decision, his govt has set a wrong example. It is unfair not just to a family but to the whole nation. We will appeal against this decision," she told ANI.
Krishnaiah's wife Uma too vowed to fight against the decision to release him. "I appeal to the President and the PM to intervene in this matter and ask CM Nitish Kumar to send him (Anand Mohan) back to jail," Uma Devi told reporters.
An IAS officer of the 1985 batch, Krishnaiah, who hailed from Telangana and was a Dalit, was beaten to death while his car tried to overtake a funeral procession of which Mohan was a part. Mohan, who was then an MLA from Mahishi in Saharsa district, had come to Muzaffarpur to mourn the killing of Chhotan Shukla, a dreaded gangster belonging to the Bhumihar community.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Mohan will conduct a rally on Thursday morning to celebrate his release. His supporters have already started celebrating his release from prison.
Meanwhile, a petition against the decision of the state of Bihar for amending Bihar Prison rules was filed by retired IPS Amitabh Das in Patna High Court. Another petition by Amar Jyoti, the Bihar in-charge of Bhim Army's Bharat Ekta Mission, was also filed on Wednesday.
The PIL said the Nitish Kumar government tweaked the state's jail manual to "favour criminals". The order of the Bihar government has drawn ire from the Dalit community. Mohan who has a huge sway among Rajputs, an influential upper caste, was often photographed holding a gun in his hand and surrounded by armed henchmen armed to the teeth.
