BiharтАЩs law department on Monday issued a notification for the release of 27 prisoners, including former MP Anand Mohan Singh, who was convicted for the 1994 murder of a district magistrate and has been in jail since 2007.
тАЬIn the light of the Bihar state sentence remission council meeting on April 20, 2023, the decision was taken for the release of prisoners having served actual sentence of 14 years or sentence of 20 years with remission,тАЭ says the notification, which has been seen by HT.
SinghтАЩs name is on the 11th place.
Earlier, the home department had notified the change in the rule 481 (1-a) of the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, deleting the phrase relating to тАЬmurder of a government servant on dutyтАЭ.
Anand Mohan was awarded life sentence in the case involving the murder of the then district magistrate of Gopalganj, G Krishnaiah, a 1985-batch IAS officer, in Muzaffarpur on December 5, 1994. Krishnaiah was attacked by a mob protesting with the body of Chhotan Shukla, a leader of Anand MohanтАЩs party who was killed a day earlier.
Lalu Prasad was the chief minister then.
Anand Mohan was awarded death sentence by the trial court, but the Patna High Court converted it into life imprisonment. He challenged the verdict it in the Supreme Court, but got no relief and has remained in jail since 2007.
On Sunday, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati had strongly criticised Bihar governmentтАЩs move for premature release of Ananad Mohan.
Anand MohanтАЩs son Chetan Anand, an MLA, is set to get married on May 3 in Dehradun.
