BJP MLA was killed with AK-47, his braid chopped off

That November 29 afternoon in 2005 was colder than usual. It had drizzled earlier. But what was to come in eastern Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district would continue to send the chill down the spines of people for decades to come.

The stillness in the air was punctuated by staccato gunfire. The incessant sound went on as 500 rounds were fired from six AK-47 rifles. It was the first time that AK rifles, the choice of military and terrorists worldwide, would be used for murder in India.

The target was then Mohammadabad MLA Krishnanand Rai. He was killed along with six others in two cars. The main accused in the murder were gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, from whom Rai had wrested the Assembly seat.

In April 2023, a court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur convicted and sentenced Mukhtar Ansari to 10 years imprisonment for Krishnanand Rai's murder. However, the legal fight is far from over.

Mukhtar Ansari allegedly not only got Rai killed, he even had his braid chopped as a trophy and evidence of his murder. All this while Mukhtar was behind bars.

The braid-chopping incident was revealed when a tapped conversation of Mukhtar Ansari with his henchman, on the day of Rai's murder, came out in public years later.

The incident was just one among the 68 cases against Mukhtar Ansari, who died of cardiac arrest on March 28 in Uttar Pradesh. Ansari was lodged in Banda jail.

WHY MUKHTAR ANSARI GOT KRISHNANAND RAI KILLED

In the swathes of UP's Purvanchal, old timers remember every detail of the 80s and 90s when the rise of mafia lords and gang wars consumed the region.

Here, conversations over a cup of tea at a roadside stall start with politics and end with crime. Politics and crime have been best of friends in Purvanchal.

The bid to boost the economy by spending in rural areas by Rajiv Gandhi saw the rise of the contractor mafia. They wanted a piece of pie of every segment -- be it road construction, mining or transport.

Mukhtar Ansari came from a respected family -- with one grandfather a freedom fighter and another a military awardee -- but chose the path of crime for wealth and power.

He rushed for the contracts and found a rival in another 'bahubali', Brijesh Singh. Both had their areas marked, but there was frequent violent gang wars.

In the 2002 UP Assembly polls, Krishnanand Rai defeated Mukhtar's brother, Afzal Ansari, and won the Mohammadabad constituency of Ghazipur district.

That wasn't just a prestige issue for the Ansaris as it was their home constituency, but Mukhtar found it difficult to conduct his illegal businesses as well. Krishnand Rai had the backing of Mukhtar's bete noire, Brijesh Singh. He had become a thorn in Mukhtar's flesh.

MUKHTAR ANSARI GANG WANTED LIGHT MACHINE GUN

Krishnand Rai was aware of the threat to his life and used to travel in a bullet-proof car.

By then, Mukhtar had started on his own political journey and made Mau in UP his political fief. He was to become a five-time MLA.

That free-run would be hit, albeit a bit, after his arrest over the Mau riots in 2005. However, Mukhtar Ansari continued running his criminal enterprise from jail.

He is said to have plotted and executed the murder of Krishnanad Rai from within the confines of prison.

Mukhtar is said to have tried to procure weapons to pierce through Rai's bullet-proof car. He wanted a light machine gun.

In January 2004, a phone call was intercepted on a deal for a light machine gun (LMG) from an Army deserter for Rs 1 crore.

Then DSP Shailendra Singh raided the Chaubepur area of Varanasi on January 25, 2004, and seized the LMG along with 200 live cartridges. He slapped stringent anti-terror charges under POTA on Ansari. DSP Singh would end up paying a heavy price for doing his duty, facing political persecution from the Mulayam Singh government.

The LMG deal busted, Mukhtar Ansari needed some other weapon to attack Krishnanand Rai. He chose AK-47 rifles, a favourite of soldiers and mercenaries.

HOW KRISHNAND RAI WAS ASSASSINATED WITH AK-47s

Krishnand Rai had gone to his native village in Varanasi to attend a wedding. That wasn't far from his residence and he didn't bother to travel in his bulletproof car. That was to be Rai's last mistake.

An MLA has several duties, inaugurating cricket tournaments is one of them.

After the wedding, Rai was invited to inaugurate a cricket match. While returning from the event, Rai and his aides, in two cars, were waylaid.

Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, a close aide of Mukhtar Ansari, is said to have led the attack.

A silver-grey SUV drove into the narrow street near a bridge and blocked the two cars.

Six people, each carrying an AK-47 rifle, sprang out and started spraying the cars with bullets. One of the shooters climbed on the bonnet of Rai's car and pumped bullets into his body.

As a proof of Rai having been killed and as a war trophy, the BJP MLA's braid was chopped off. The task of chopping off the braid was given to criminal Rakesh Pandey. That was revealed after a voice call between Mukhtar and don Abhay Singh emerged in 2020.

In all, 500 bullets were fired. Over 60 bullets were taken out of the bodies of the seven murdered people. Twenty-one were taken out from Rai's body alone.

After the trial court convicted both Mukhtar and Afzal Ansari in the murder, the brothers approached the Allahabad High Court. The court ordered a CBI investigation into the case.

One after another, every witness either turned hostile or turned up dead.

Due to lack of evidence, the CBI court in 2019 let off both Mukhtar and Afzal Ansari in the Krishnanand Rai murder case. Rai's son has taken up the legal battle and has approached the high court.

The political battle continues too.

Krishnanand Rai's wife, Alka Rai, wrested the Mohammadabad seat in the 2017 UP Assembly polls from Sibgatullah Ansari, the third Ansari brother. She won on a BJP ticket. However, in the 2022 election, Suhaib Ansari, Sibgatullah Ansari's son and Mukhtar's nephew, defeated Alka Rai.

The Ansari-Rai battle seems likely to continue even after Krishnanand Rai and now Mukhtar Ansari's deaths.