By IANS
Patna : The Patna High Court Tuesday granted bail to former MP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Lovely Anand, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for her role in the brutal lynching of IAS officer G. Krishnaiya in 1994.
A division bench of the Patna High Court comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Mahfooz Alam granted bail to Lovely “on the basis of the records of the trial court”, official sources said.
The court also stayed a fine of Rs.25,000 slapped on Lovely by the trial court.
Krishnaiya was the district magistrate of Gopalganj when he was lynched by a mob led by Lovely’s husband, former MP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Anand Mohan Singh Dec 5, 1994.
A Patna court Wednesday sentenced Singh and two others – former MLA and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Akhlaq Ahmed and Arun Kumar, a JD-U leader – to death for their involvement in Krishnaiya’s murder.
The court also sentenced Lovely to life imprisonment along with Munna Shukla, a JD-U legislator from Lalganj, Shashi Shekhar and Harendra Kumar, both JD-U leaders.
The High Court Monday admitted Lovely’s appeal against her life sentence, which she filed Friday, and sought the records of the trial court.
Lovely was lodged in the high-security Beur jail here after her sentencing.
Krishnaiya, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, was shot and then stoned by a mob near Khaabra village on National Highway 28 when he was returning to Gopalganj from Hajipur via Muzaffarpur after attending an official meeting.
According to police, Krishnaiya’s vehicle was intercepted by a mob led by Anand Mohan Singh, then chief of Bihar People’s Party (BPP). His wife Lovely, Munna Shukla and Akhlaq Ahmad were also part of the mob, which comprised mainly armed henchmen and supporters of Anand Mohan Singh.
The mob was protesting the killing of former BPP leader Kaushalendra Shukla alias Chhotan Shukla.