SC upholds lifer for former MP who incited mob to kill IAS official

The Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence awarded to former Lok Sabha MP Anand Mohan for inciting a mob to attack and murder the District Magistrate of Gopalganj, G Krishnaiah in 1994. The Bihar government had appealed to the court to enhance Anand Mohan’s punishment to the death sentence, and had also appealed against the acquittal of all other accused, including his wife Lovely Anand in the case. [caption id=“attachment_373023” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Patna High court . Reuters[/caption] The appeals by Mohan and the state of Bihar were filed against the December 2008 verdict of the Patna High Court, which had commuted Anand Mohan’s death penalty, awarded by the trial court, to a life sentence and acquitted all others due to lack of evidence. Mohan, a former MP from Sheohar, was awarded a life term under Sections 302 (murder) and 109 (abetment of offence). Additional District and Sessions Judge RS Rai, had on 3 October, 2007 awarded the death sentence to Mohan, Ahmed and Arun Kumar and life imprisonment to Lovely Anand, Munna Shukla, Shashi Shekhar and Harendra Kumar. Anand Mohan, who was the leader of the then Bihar People’s Party (BPP) at the time of the murder, and his wife were accused of inciting a mob to lynch Krishnaiah. The BPP is not operational any more. Krishnaiah was lynched by a mob accompanying the cortege of a BPP leader Chotan Shukla on 5 December, 1994. The officer was pulled out of a car, beaten up mercilessly and then shot dead. Mohan along with the other accused had allegedly made provocative speeches and told the mob to kill Krishnaiah. They accused the IAS official of inaction in the murder of Chotan Shukla, who was killed by political rivals. with inputs from PTI