PATNA: Bihar government issued a notification on Monday paving the way for the release of don-turned former MP Anand Mohan from jail.
According to the notification, 27 other prisoners lodged in different jails will also be released. The law department issued the names of prisoners to be freed along with Anand Mohan. Mohan's name is listed on the 11th number of the list sent to the home department.
Anand Mohan, who is currently lodged in Saharsa district jail, will be released on April 26.
Mohan, a former MP from Sheohar, was serving sentence in the then Gopalganj district magistrate in connection with the G Krishnaiah murder case. Krishnaiah, a 1985-batch IAS officer, was killed by a mob on the outskirts of Muzaffarpur on December 5, 1994.
The notification was issued by the law department after approval from chief minister Nitish Kumar, who also holds the home portfolio.
The notification coincides with Anand Mohan’s son Chetan Anand's ring ceremony being held in Dehradun. The marriage ceremony of Chetan, RJD MLA from Sheohar, will be solemnised on May 2. Anand Mohan is on an 11-day parole to attend the pre-wedding ceremony.
“This is one the biggest gifts offered by chief minister Nitish Kumar to Anand Mohan on his son's ring ceremony, ahead of marriage,” a senior BJP leader sarcastically said, adding that his release has its political significance.
Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha founder Jitan Ram Manjhi said that he didn't consider Anand Mohan a criminal. “He should not be treated like a criminal and he doesn't seem to be,” he said.
On Sunday, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati took a jibe at Nitish Kumar for bringing about changes in the jail manual to facilitate the release of Anand Mohan, who was awarded a death sentence by a lower court in the G Krishnaiah murder case.
The high court later converted the death sentence into life imprisonment. His family members said that Mohan should be released as he has already completed 14 years in prison.
Earlier, the "murderer of a government servant on duty" category of prisoners was not eligible to get the benefit of remission of their sentences. But the state government deleted the category by amending the Bihar Prison Manual,2012 with the intention to ensure the early release of Anand Mohan, a prominent Rajput leader of the Kosi region.