E-Paper
Mystery shrouds death of sole eyewitness
THE SOLE eyewitness to the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai and six others died under mysterious circumstances in Ghazipur on Wednesday. The death of Shashi Kant Rai took place just days before the arrival of the CBI team to begin investigation in the case.
THE SOLE eyewitness to the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai and six others died under mysterious circumstances in Ghazipur on Wednesday. The death of Shashi Kant Rai took place just days before the arrival of the CBI team to begin investigation in the case.
He was brought to the Ghazipur district hospital on Wednesday morning and the doctors declared him dead. His son Nagendra Rai alleged Shashi Kant was killed. He had left his house on July 9.The body was sent for a post-mortem examination.
It is suspected that Shashi Kant, who had been attacked during the shootout in which Krishnanand Rai and the others were killed in Mohammadabad area of Ghazipur on November 29 last year, died after consumption of a poisonous substance.
Shashi Kant, who sustained bullet injuries during the Ghazipur shootout, had survived at the time.
Later, the Special Task Force (STF) and the police investigated the case. SP MP from Ghazipur Afzal Ansari, his brother and independent MLA, Mukhtar Ansari and brother-in-law Ejaz Ansari were lodged in Ghazipur jail on the charge of conspiracy to murder.
Soon, after the MLA’s murder, the then BJP national general secretary Rajnath Singh had staged an indefinite dharna at the district headquarters in Varanasi, seeking a CBI inquiry.
Later, on the petition of the family members of the slain MLA, the Allahabad High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry. The Supreme Court rejected the State Government’s appeal against the High Court decision.
