'He Was No Saint...': Kin Of Krishnanand Rai React To Mukhtar Ansari's Death

Former BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai was murdered in 2005 in which Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal were named as the accused.

Kin of former BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, who was shot dead in 2005 in which Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal were the accused reacted to the death of the gangster-turned-politician saying that Ansari's family will now feel the pain that their family went though 19 years ago. 

The five-time MLA who faced a slew of criminal cases died on Thursday night at Banda Medical College after suffering heart attack. His family has been alleging that he was being given slow poison while Congress party has dubbed it as "institutional murder" and demanded a high-level probe. 

Expressing happiness over Ansari's death, Rai's son Piyush said that the decision has been taken in God's court while Rai's nephew, Anand Rai said that the gangster's family will now feel the pain that his family went thorugh at the time of his uncle's murder. 

When asked about the allegations being levelled by Ansari's family that he was given slow poison, Anand said, "Medical bulletin clearly says he died due to heart attack but relatives will put some blame."  

"A sense of happiness has prevailed in the family after waiting for 19 years," he said in a video message terming Ansari's death as a "Holi gift from God" to Rai's family. 

Referring to statements by the Congress party, he said, "He (Mukhtar Ansari) wasn't a saint that some people are giving statements on television. He had 50-60 criminal cases against him out of which around 25-30 were of murder other than kidnapping and other crimes." 

"He was no saint that there is such a hue and cry over his death," he added.  

Krishnanand Rai Murder Case 

On July 15, 2001, some armed men stopped Ansari's convoy and opened fire on gangster-turned-politician, but Ansari managed to escape the attack. 

He was informed that the attack was carried out by gangster Brijesh Singh on the instructions of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai. 

On November 29, 2005, when Rai stepped out of his home to attend a cricket match, Ansari's shooter, Munna Bajrangi rained bullets on the BJP leader, some 20 kilometres away from where Ansari was attacked. 

During the postmortem, 67 bullets were removed from Rai's body and that of six of his associates, as per an ABP News report.