Gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan released from Bihar's jail

SAHARSA (Bihar): Gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh was released from Bihar's Saharsa jail early Thursday morning, a jail official confirmed. Singh's release was necessitated after the Bihar government recently amended the prison rules allowing the release of 27 convicts including him.

He was serving a life sentence in the 1994 murder of then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah.

After the Bihar Government amended the rules of the Jail manual, an official notification stated that 27 prisoners who have served 14 years or 20 years in jail have been ordered to be released.

Posters welcoming the former MP Anand Mohan were put up at Veer Kunwar Singh Chowk in the district. The gangster-turned-politician was earlier on parole of 15 days to attend the engagement ceremony of his MLA son Chetan Anand.

He had returned to Saharsa jail on April 26 following the end of his parole period. Earlier on Wednesday, the state prisons department had released nearly 14 convicts from various jails of the state. Singh was among eight others who could not be released yesterday.

There has been a backlash regarding the former MP's release from jail by the opposition in the state. Responding to the uproar over his imminent release, Anand Mohan Singh on Tuesday took a dig at the BJP and said convicts in Bilkis Bano case were also released under Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's pressure.

"In Gujarat also, some decision has been taken under the pressure of RJD and Nitish Kumar, go and see that. Some people have been released and garlanded. Yes, I am pointing out to that case (Bilkis Bano case) only," Singh told mediapersons.

He said that he has "full sympathy" with the slain IAS officer's family. "I have full sympathy for G Krishnaiah's family. This episode ruined two families, that of Lovely Anand (his wife), and G Kishnaiah," the former MP added.

Anand Mohan murdered Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah on December 5, 1994, in Muzaffarpur. Krishnaiah was killed by a mob allegedly provoked by Anand Mohan Singh.

He was dragged out of his official car and lynched. G Krishnaiah, a 1985-batch IAS officer who hailed from Mahbubnagar in present-day Telangana.

Anand Mohan was sentenced to death by a trial court in 2007. A year later, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Patna High Court.

Mohan then challenged the verdict in Supreme Court but no relief has been granted yet and he has remained in Saharsa jail since 2007. His wife Lovely Anand has also been a Lok Sabha MP, while their son Chetan Anand is an RJD MLA from Bihar's Sheohar.