Krishnanand Rai and Mukhtar Ansari
– Photo: Amar Ujala
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As soon as the news of death of mafia Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in Banda Jail, due to heart attack was received late on Thursday evening, the sound of AK-47 bullets fired at Basniya Chatti 19 years and eight months ago echoed in the minds of the people of the district. Seven people, including BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, were brutally murdered. This murder remained in the headlines at the national level for several months. Not only the district but the entire state was shocked by this incident.
Seven people were gunned down in broad daylight
On 29 November 2005, MLA Krishnanand Rai was going to his ancestral village Godur after inaugurating a cricket competition in Kanuwan of his area. At around 2.45 pm, seven people, including MLA Krishnanand Rai and his gunner, were killed in a political rivalry near Basaniya village on Lathudih Kotwa road. After this incident, the entire Purvanchal including Ghazipur, Varanasi, Mau and Azamgarh was shaken.
Sloganeering was accompanied by arson and vandalism after indiscriminate firing.
To commit the crime, notorious criminals used automatic weapons and fired indiscriminately. 67 bullets were found from Krishnanand Rai’s body. A case was registered against former MLA Mukhtar Ansari, MP Afzal Ansari and others in the murder case, but Ansari Bhai and others were acquitted by the CBI court. The situation was such that even after the MLA murder case, there was not even a search inside the gate of Muhammadabad. Whereas the incident had led to arson, vandalism and sloganeering against the murderers in Ghazipur, Muhammadabad and other places.