The family of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Krishnanand Rai, who was killed by Mukhtar Ansari, said the death of gangster-politician is a ‘blessing of Almighty’.
“What can I say? This is the blessing of the Almighty. I used to pray to him for justice and the justice has been served today. We never celebrated Holi after the incident (the murder), I felt that today is Holi for us,” Alka Rai told ANI.
“My mother and I have received the blessings of Baba Vishwanath and Baba Gorakhnath,” Krishnanand Rai's son Piyush Rai said.
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In April 2023, Mukhtar Ansari was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai by an MP MLA court.
On November 29, 2005, Krishnanand Rai was on his way back home after inaugurating a cricket tournament in Siyadi area. At around 1:30 pm, the BJP leader's cavalcade was ambushed at a narrow bridge in Ussarchati locality in Bhawarkol area of Ghazipur.
A police officer who did not wish to be named, had told HT that six assailants armed with AK-47 assault rifles surrounded two vehicles in which Krishnanand Rai and his six aides were travelling and sprayed them with bullets. At least 400 bullet shells were recovered from the spot, out of which 21 bullets were found in Rai's body alone.
As per the FIR, Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, who had lost assembly election to Rai in Mohammadabad seat, were named main conspirators.
According to the CBI, Rai and the Ansari brothers had been rivals since the 2002 Mohammadabad assembly contest in 2002. Afzal Ansari had been undefeated since 1982.
Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, a close aide of Ansari brothers, was also allegedly involved in the killing. Bajrangi was shot dead by another gangster Sunil Rathi inside Baghpat district jail on July 9, 2018.
A police officer who did not wish to be named, had told HT that six assailants armed with AK-47 assault rifles surrounded two vehicles in which Krishnanand Rai and his six aides were travelling and sprayed them with bullets. At least 400 bullet shells were recovered from the spot, out of which 21 bullets were found in Rai's body alone.
As per the FIR, Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, who had lost assembly election to Rai in Mohammadabad seat, were named main conspirators.
According to the CBI, Rai and the Ansari brothers had been rivals since the 2002 Mohammadabad assembly contest in 2002. Afzal Ansari had been undefeated since 1982.
Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, a close aide of Ansari brothers, was also allegedly involved in the killing. Bajrangi was shot dead by another gangster Sunil Rathi inside Baghpat district jail on July 9, 2018.
Mukhtar Ansari, who hailed from Mau, was believed to have a strong influence in the adjoining Ghazipur and Varanasi districts as well.