PRAYAGRAJ: Allahabad high court on Monday set aside the

conviction

and four-year

sentence

awarded to Ghazipur SP MP

Afzal Ansari

in a Gangsters’ Act case linked to the

murder

of a BJP MLA, Krishnanand Rai, in 2005. Afzal’s late brother Mukhtar had been sentenced to 10 years in the same case lodged in 2007, reports Rajesh Kumar Pandey.
The latest order lifts pall of uncertainty on Afzal’s Lok Sabha membership.

Under a Supreme Court ruling, sentences of two years and more trigger automatic disqualification for MPs and MLAs and a bar on contesting polls for several years. In Afzal’s case, SC had earlier stayed his conviction, enabling him to fight this year’s Lok Sabha elections and win. Afzal has been a five-time MLA and two-time MP.
Besides Rai’s murder, the case under the stringent Gangsters’ Act contained some other charges against the Ansaris, including a high-profile kidnapping. In the main 2005 case related to Rai’s murder, the brothers had been acquitted by a CBI court in 2019. The central agency has appealed that verdict in Delhi HC. On Monday, the Allahabad high court bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh rejected appeals by the Uttar Pradesh govt and Rai’s son Piyush seeking enhancement of Afzal’s sentence.