By IANS
Patna : Uma Krishnaiya, wife of slain Gopalganj district magistrate G. Krishnaiya, has demanded that the seven Bihar political leaders who were held guilty for his death by a Patna court on Monday be sent to the gallows.
“They deserve no less punishment than the death sentence. The court should award capital punishment to them to send a message to society,” Uma, in her 40s, told IANS over phone Tuesday from Hyderabad where she lives with her two daughters.
A Patna sessions court convicted seven politicians: two former MPs — Anand Mohan, Bihar People’s Party chief-turned Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and his wife Lovely Anand; Munna Shukla, sitting JD-U legislator from Lalganj; Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla; Akhlaq Ahmad, Harendra Kumar and Arun Kumar.
Uma said even the death sentence would not compensate for the loss in her life.
The verdict has come 13 years after the incident.
The court will pronounce sentence on Wednesday.
The court found seven of the 36 accused guilty under various counts of the Indian Penal Code. It acquitted 29 others.
Soon after the conviction, the seven were taken into custody and sent to the high security Beur jail here.
“At last, justice does not seem to be far away,” said Uma.
She wondered what would happen in the case of an ordinary man if it took so long for a court to pronounce judgement in the case of an IAS officer’s murder.
Krishnaiya, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, was shot and then stoned by a mob near Khaabra village on National Highway 28 on Dec 5, 1994, while he was returning to Gopalganj from Hajipur via Muzaffarpur after attending an official meeting there.
Krishnaiya was from a very poor family in Andhra Pradesh. His father was a labourer.
According to the police report, Krishnaiya’s vehicle was intercepted by a mob led by Anand Mohan Singh, then chief of the Bihar People’s Party (BPP). His wife Lovely Anand, Munna Shukla and Akhlaq Ahmad were also part of the mob, which comprised mainly armed henchmen and supporters of Singh, the police said.
The mob was protesting the killing of former BPP leader Kaushalendra Shukla alias Chhotan Shukla.
Anand Mohan Singh and Munna Shukla are facing several criminal cases, including murder, in various courts. If Singh is a terror in the Saharsa-Supaul belt, Shukla is feared in the Vaishali-Muzaffarpur belt of north Bihar.
Singh is known for his open criticism of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Shukla is as one of the several ruling party legislators unhappy with him.
Interestingly, both Singh and Shukla rose to power after the murder of Krishnaiya. Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 for the first time. He was elected to the state assembly in 1990. Shukla was elected to Bihar assembly in 2000 for the first time.