Varanasi, June 5 (UNI) Mafia-turned-politician and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs 1 lakh in the 32-year-old Awadhesh Rai murder case by an MP-MLA court here in Varanasi on Monday, a prosecution counsel said here.
Counsel Vinay Kumar Singh said that after hearing the arguments of both the sides, Special Judge MP-MLA court Avanish Gautam held Mukhtar guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs 1 lakh. Congress leader and former MLA Ajay Rai, brother of Awadhesh Rai, was present in the court when the judgement was pronounced.
Prosecution sources said before the quantum of punishment was announced, Mukhtar and his counsel Aditya Verma pleaded the court to give minimum punishment citing his age and health issues.
Prosecution counsel Vinay Kumar Singh opposed the arguments of the defence counsel and stated that the accused has a long criminal history. He said that as the murder of Awadhesh Rai by the accused in the broad daylight has been proved, it falls into the category of rarest of rare crime.
Prosecution sources said that the court while citing an order of the Supreme Court said that the apex court has observed that death sentence is to be rewarded in rarest of the rare case only and this case does not fall in this category.
Prosecution sources said the court sentenced Mukhtar to life imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs 1 lakh under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (murder) read with section 149 (unlawful assembly). The court sentenced Mukhtar to 3-year simple imprisonment along with fine of Rs 20,000 under section 148 of the IPC.
The court ordered that all the sentences will run concurrently and the period spent in the jail will be adjusted in the sentence.
Singh said that Mukhtar, who is currently lodged in Banda jail, appeared before the court through video-conferencing. It may be noted that Awadhesh Rai was shot while he was standing in front of his brother Ajay Rai's house in Chetganj area under Lahurabir police station in Varanasi on August 3, 1991.
The assailants, who came in a van, fired indiscriminately on Awadhesh Rai. Awadhesh, who sustained serious injuries, was taken to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Awadhesh's brother and Congress leader Ajay Rai had filed a case against five persons, including Mukhtar, Bheem Singh, Kamlesh Singh, former MLA Abdul Kalam and Rakesh Nyayaik.
One of the accused and former MLA Abdul Kalam died during the course of trial. It may be mentioned that a total 61 cases including eight cases of murder are registered against Mafia Mukhtar.
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