Slain IAS officer G. Krishnaiah’s wife moves SC; challenges release of ex-MP Anand Mohan

After gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh was released from Saharsa jail on April 27, the wife of slain Gopalganj magistrate G. Krishnaiah, Uma Krishnaiah filed a petition in the Supreme Court on April 29 challenging the release of Mohan, who was convicted for the murder that took place in 1994.

Earlier, Uma had said that the Bihar government’s decision to release Anand Mohan was “not a good decision.”

In her petition, it is mentioned, "It is submitted that it is a well-settled principle of law that Imprisonment for life means full natural course of Life and cannot be mechanically interpreted to be 14 years. It means that imprisonment for life lasts until the last breath.”

IAS Officer G. Krishnaiah's killing

G. Krishnaiah, a 1985-batch IAS officer who was from Mahbubnagar in present-day Telangana, was lynched by a mob on December 5, 1994 and Anand was serving a life term for his alleged involvement in the former's murder.

In 2007, a court had convicted seven people and the remaining 29 were acquitted. Anand Mohan was later handed the death penalty, but the next year the Patna High Court had commuted it to life imprisonment.

However, Singh's release was allowed under a jail sentence remission order after the Bihar government recently amended the prison rules allowing the early release of 27 convicts including him. 

Opposition slams Nitish Kumar government

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Nitish Kumar government for the release of Anand Mohan and demanded that the state government withdraw its decision.

Owasi described the Bihar government’s decision to release Singh as the murder of Krishnaiah for the “second time”.

BJP leader K Laxman said that all those who want democracy should condemn the decision of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

He said, "I strongly, condemn the release of Anand Mohan who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Bihar IAS officer G Krishnaiah who hails from the Dalit community in Telangana.”

All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz Chairman and Former JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar said that the decision gives a “wrong message” to “Dalits and backward Muslims.”

He said, "The decision has been taken by the Bihar government to release Anand Mohan from Jail gives the wrong message, especially among the Dalits and Backward Classes and Muslims.”

Nitish Kumar defends Anand Mohan

On Friday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar defended the release of Anand Mohan Singh and said, "That man has spent 15 years in jail. A person on life imprisonment has a maximum term of 14 years. So many times directives regarding jail procedures come from the central government and so many people get released. You tell me, should there be any differentiation made on the basis that a common person is killed or an officer is killed."