Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh): The Allahabad High Court on Monday overturned the Ghazipur MP-MLA court's decision to sentence Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari for four years in the murder of former BJP MP Krishnanand Rai.
With the cancellation of the sentence, Ansari will continue to serve as a Lok Sabha MP from Ghazipur. Earlier, Ansari had appealed to the court against his conviction. A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh accepted his appeal while cancelling his sentence today. After hearing Ansari's appeal, the judgement was reserved on July 4.
The trial court had sentenced Ansari, brother of deceased gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, to four years imprisonment in the Gangster Act Case related to Krishnanand Rai's murder on 29 April last year and also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him.
The Uttar Pradesh government and Rai' son, Piyush Kumar had sought an extension of Ansari's sentence, which the high court has rejected today.
If the high court had not set aside the MP-MLA court's order and rejected Ansari's appeal, then he would have to vacate his seat in Parliament as the Representation of the People Act states that any member who is sentenced for two years or more will become disqualified.
In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, Ansari has been re-elected as an MP from Ghazipur on a Samajwadi Party ticket. He had won by a margin of 1.24 lakh votes by defeating BJP candidate Paras Nath Rai and BSP candidate Umesh Kumar Singh.
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