Patna: Former Bihar MP and convict in the 1994 bureaucrat Krishnaiah murder case, Anand Mohan who was released on Tuesday after the state government tweaked its jail manual has denied allegations that the rules were specially changed for him alone. Anand Mohan was sentenced to death in 2007 by a court in Bihar after the bureaucrat Krishnaiah was lynched by a mob allegedly incited by Mohan.
The sentence was however commuted to life imprisonment by the Patna High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012. However, politics in Bihar heated up after the Nitish Kumar led Mahagathbandhan government removed the clause forbidding the remission of jail term for criminals convicted of murdering a public servant on duty.
As per the notification issued to this effect by the Bihar Law Department, the new set of rules will be applicable for prisoners who have served the actual sentence of 14 years or a sentence of 20 years with remission. The new jail manual caused a political row with the opposition hitting out at the Nitish Kumar led Bihar government.
The opposition alleges that the new amendment has been specially made to let Anand Mohan off the hook. However, in a special conversation with ETV Bharat's Bureau Chief Ashutosh, Anand Mohan and his wife Lovely Anand denied the allegations. The former MP said that if Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has changed the rules for me, “then why did I have to stay in jail for more than one and a half years? I am at number 11 in the list that has been released. That's why it is wrong to blame the government”.
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Anand Mohan also denied any role in the 1994 murder of the bureaucrat. “Sentenced to life imprisonment on the orders of the court, I am in jail for the last 15 years. I am being released after serving my sentence, so questions should not be raised. I was jailed under the rules, now I am being released under the rules,” he said.
Anand Mohan said that he was saddened by Krishnaiah's death. “I have full sympathy for his family. Two families have suffered in this matter. One Krishnaiah's family and the other Lovely Anand my wife's family, others didn't care,” he added. Over a question on BSP Chief Mayawati's opposition to his release, Anand Mohan said, “I do not know any Mayawati. Kalavati was heard in Satyanarayan Puja, but who is this Mayawati? What did she say, I don't even want to go into that, I don't even have time to know”.
Welcoming Nitish Kumar's campaign to unite opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Anand Mohan said that it is necessary to have a strong opposition in a democracy. “If this does not happen then the person sitting in the government will become a dictator,” he said. Over his future plans after his release and whether he will join active politics, Anand Mohan said that he will “definitely do politics”.
“My politics is not dead even while in jail, you must have guessed it,” he said. Lovely Anand, Anand Mohan's wife welcomed the decision. “First of all I express my faith in the almighty and then I express my gratitude to the Honorable Chief Minister. I am getting the same happiness as Urmila in Ramayana, who reunited with Laxman ji in Ayodhya after 14 years. Holi-Diwali was not celebrated in my house but now we will celebrate together with our supporters," she said.
