Delhi HC admits plea challenging acquittal of Mukhtar Ansari in BJP leader murder case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday admitted a plea challenging acquittal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and others in the 2005 murder case of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai.

Alka Rai, wife of Rai has approached the Delhi High Court challenging acquittal of Ansari and others by the CBI special trial court.

A division bench of Justices Manmohan Singh and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal sought reply of Ansari and other accused and slated the matter for hearing on November 28.

CBI court had pronounced the judgement in July this year in the murder case. Rai, who was murdered on November 29, 2005, along with six other persons, was a sitting MLA from Mohammadabad constituency.

The investigation of the case was transferred from UP Police to CBI. In 2013, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Ghazipur to Delhi after Alka Rai filed a plea in the court.

The CBI court while acquitting all the accused observed that it was a gruesome case involving the murder of seven persons. The eyewitnesses and other material witnesses had turned hostile during the trail.

The trial court had then also slammed the probe agency. "In the end, the prosecution has not proved the charges framed against Azaz-Ul-Haq, Afzal Ansari, Mukhtar Ansari, Sanjeev Maheshwari, Rakesh Pandey, Ramu Mallah and Mansoor Ansari," it said.

The accused were acquitted of the charges framed against them.

"The case was another example of prosecution failing due to hostile witnesses. If the witnesses, in this case, had the benefit of Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 during the trial, the result may have been different," CBI Court had stated.

Ansari is currently lodged in Lucknow jail and is facing several cases against him including that of murder and kidnapping.