Slain MLA’s kin acccused of Vikasnagar double murder
LUCKNOW: Three nephews of slain BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai have been accused of the sensational shootout in Vikas Nagar late on Saturday night. Pushpjeet Singh (brother-inlaw of incarcerated dreaded gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi) and his friend were killed in this incident.
Pushpjeet’s family alleged that the double murder was the fall-out of old enmity between Munna Bajrangi and Rai family. Bajrangi, presently lodged in Jhansi jail, is the prime accused in Rai’s murder in Ghazipur on November 29, 2005. Police, however, say the shootout was the fall-out of enmity between two gangs of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Pushpjeet, a lawyer and contractor, was the brother of Bajrangi’s wife Seema Singh.
Those accused include Brijesh Kumar and Manoj Kumar Rai, sons of t he slain MLA’s elder brother Ramnarayan Rai and Anand Kumar Rai alias Munna, son of the slain MLA’s other brother Shyamnarayan Rai, all residents of Ghazipur. Pushpjeet’s brother-in-law Vikas Srivastava has held the trio responsible for the shootout. He said the trio and unidentified shooters executed the killing.
Srivastava alleged that the Rai brothers targeted Pushpjeet as the latter provided legal aide to Munna Bajrangi in disposing of his criminal cases. He said Pushpjeet was also handling the case of the slain MLA’s murder in which Bajrangi was the prime accused.
He said the trial was going on in the case and the MLA’s elder brother Ramanand Rai was scheduled to give testimony on the previous court date but did not appear. He said on the same date Brijesh and Manoj Rai had threatened Pushpjeet to not pursue the case and allegedly murdered the latter before the next court date on March 16.
Srivastava said Rai family had also falsely named Bajrangi in the slain MLA’s murder for settle their personal scores. He said the Rais were also opposing the attempts of Bajrangi’s wife to enter politics and Pushpjeet was supporting his sister. He said Bajrangi’s wife presently stayed with Pushpjeet’s family in Vikas Nagar. He also said two eyewitnesses Chandrika Jaiswal and Naseem Ahmad had heard the assailants shouting about the slain MLA’s case while executing the killing.
Pushpjeet and his friend Sanjay Mishra, a lecturer in a Jaunpur Inter College, were gunned down when they were retur ning to the for mer’s house in Sector 11, Vikas Nagar at around 10.30pm on Saturday. Two motorcycle-borne assailants intercepted their vehicle and opened indiscriminate firing. The assailants continued firing even after the car rammed into a pole on the road and fled only after ensuring that the duo was dead.