Ruling SP MP appears before court in BJP MLA murder case

Ghazipur, UP, June 8 (UNI) Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari and his younger brother and don-turned-Independent MLA from Mau Mukhtar Ansari were today produced before the court in the murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.

Special judge D K Tyagi fixed June 26 as the next date of hearing, when charges would be fixed against them.

Another accused and Ansaris' brother-in-law Ejaz -- lodged in Ghazipur district jail alongwith them -- failed to appear before the court due to ill-health. A medical report in this regard was filed by the jail superintendent.

Mukhtar and 32 others are also accused in Mau communal riots, which had rocked the district on October 14, 2005 during a 'Bharat Milap' ceremony.

Rai, an MLA from Mohammadabad assembly constituency in Ghazipur district, and his seven supporters were shot dead in broad daylight in Ghazipur on November 29 last year.

They were ambushed near the Ballia-Ghazipur border by several motorcycle-borne miscreants armed with sophisticated weapons.

Later, an FIR was lodged against 10 persons including Mukhtar, Afzal and notorious east UP gangster Munna Bajrangi in connection with the killing.

Afzal surrendered in the court on December 8.

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