LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) gunned down Rakesh Pandey, an accused in the 2005 murder case of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai, in an encounter near Sarojini Nagar Police Station in Lucknow, said Inspector General of Police (STF) Amitabh Yash on Sunday.
"Rakesh Pandey killed in an encounter with UP STF near Sarojini Nagar Police Station in Lucknow," said Amitabh Yash.
A resident of UP's Mau district, Pandey alias Hanuman Pandey carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh. He was a wanted criminal and accused of many heinous crimes.
Rai, who was murdered on November 29, 2005, along with six other persons, was a sitting MLA from the Mohammadabad constituency.
The investigation of the case was transferred from UP Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In 2013, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Ghazipur to Delhi after Rai's wife Alka Rai filed a plea in the court.
In October last year, Alka Rai had approached the Delhi High Court challenging the acquittal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and others in the case.
The CBI court while acquitting all the accused observed that it was a gruesome case involving the murder of seven persons. The eyewitnesses and other material witnesses had turned hostile during the trial.