New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Bihar government to produce original documents with regard to the remission granted to former MP Anand Mohan, who was serving a life term in the 1994 murder case of then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah.
Krishnaiah, who hailed from Telangana, was beaten to death by a mob in 1994 when his vehicle tried to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district. Mohan, then an MLA, was leading the procession.
Advocate Manish Kumar, who appeared on behalf of the Bihar government, was told by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala that no further adjournment will be granted in the case and directed him to place the complete records for the perusal of the court. The apex court listed the plea filed by the wife of the slain officer challenging the release of Mohan on August 8.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for Uma Krishnaiah, the wife of the slain officer, said the state government has changed the policy retrospectively and released him in the case. He urged the bench to direct the state to place entire records of criminal antecedents of Mohan and sought the matter to be listed in the month of August.
"Original records with regard to remission to Respondent-4 (Anand Mohan) by order dated April 10, 2023, be placed before the court", the bench said, adding that records with regard to criminal antecedents be also placed before it.
Mohan's name was featured in a list of more than 20 prisoners, who were ordered to be set free by a notification issued by the state's law department as they had spent more than 14 years behind bars. The remission of his sentence followed an April 10 amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual by the Nitish Kumar government whereby the restriction on early release of those involved in the killing of a public servant on duty was done away with. This, the critics of the state government's decision claim, was done to facilitate the release of Mohan, a Rajput strongman, who could add heft to the grand alliance led by Nitish Kumar in its fight against the BJP. Several others, including politicians, benefited from the amendment to the state prison rules.
