Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) : The MP-MLA Court sentenced gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari to life imprisonment in the 32-year-old Awadhesh Rai murder case on Monday. Along with this, a fine of Rs 1 lakh was slapped on the convicted Mukhtar who was presented before the court today through video conferencing. Mukhtar Ansari, who is lodged in Banda Jail, has been convicted by the court earlier.
Reacting to the sentence, the slain Awadhesh Rai's younger brother and former MLA Ajay Rai said that this is the end of their long wait of so many years. He further said that he, his parents and Awadhesh Rai's daughter and the whole family waited with patience and did not bow down before Mukhtar Ansari all these years. He said that the Governments came and went while Mukhtar kept on strengthening himself, but even then they did not give up. He expressed happiness that due to the efforts of everyone and their lawyers for so many years, today the court found Mukhtar guilty in the murder case of Awadhesh Rai.
On the other hand, in the Awadhesh murder case, advocate Anuj Yadav, who is presenting his case in the court on behalf of Ajay Rai, said that 36 pages of written comments from the prosecution side and 41 pages from the opposition side were filed in the court. After seeing this, the court found Mukhtar Ansari guilty. The remaining people, in this case, were accused in pending cases in other courts.
Everybody's attention was drawn to the verdict of the Varanasi MP MLA court in the Awadhesh Rai Murder Case today. The main accused in this is Mukhtar Ansari, who faced a total of 4 cases last year, but the Awadhesh Rai murder case is considered very important. It is believed that Mukhtar may get the biggest punishment.
Also Read : Prayagraj: Gangster-politician Vijay Mishra's house attachment deferred for 2nd time
Awadhesh Rai is currently the provincial president of the Congress. The murder of Awadhesh took place on August 3, 1991, in the Lahurabir area of the Chetganj police station area of Varanasi. That day, Awadhesh Rai was standing outside the house with his brother Ajay Rai. The miscreants who came in a van suddenly started firing rapidly. In this, Awadhesh Rai was hit by several bullets.
In the chaos, he was taken to the hospital. There the doctor declared him dead. Mukhtar Ansari was the main accused in this case while Bhim Singh, Kamlesh Singh, Munna Bajrangi, former MLA Abdul Kalam and Rakesh Justice were the other accused. The hearing of this case was earlier going on in the ADJ Court of Banaras itself, but on November 23, 2007, during the hearing itself, a bomb blast took place just a short distance from the court.
After this, Rakesh, one of the accused involved in the murder, appealed to the High Court, stating that he faced a security threat. The hearing resumed in Allahabad after the formation of Special Judge MP MLA/Court. The hearing was held against Mukhtar Ansari after the formation of the special court of MP/MLA in Banaras.
