Former MP on hunger strike in jail

Nov 12, 2007, 10:24 GMT

Patna, Nov 12 (IANS) Former MP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Anand Mohan Singh, sentenced to death last month for the murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate G. Krishnaiah in 1994, has been on a hunger strike for the past nine days demanding better facilities in jail.

The former MP's condition reportedly deteriorated in the last 48 hours to Monday afternoon, but authorities of Bhagalpur jail, where he is lodged, are in no mood to concede his demands.

Jail doctor Satyendra Kumar said Singh had become weak and his blood pressure had shot up.

'He is on a hunger strike for the past nine days demanding facilities meant for special class prisoners as a former MP. But his protest was ignored by the jail authorities,' said Singh's wife Lovely Anand, a former MP herself who was also jailed for life for the same crime and later granted bail by the Patna High court.

Jail officials in Bhagalpur, about 180 km from here, said Singh went on hunger strike soon after he was shifted from Patna's Beur jail to high-security Bhagalpur jail.

Along with Singh, Bihar minister Akhlaq Ahmad, now a leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and former legislator Arun Kumar, both sentenced to death in the same case, were also shifted from Beur jail to Bhagalpur jail under heavy security.

After meeting Singh in jail, Lovely Anand alleged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and state Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah were trying to settle personal scores with her husband.

'Afzal Amanullah is hatching a conspiracy to eliminate my husband in jail,' she said.

Singh's mother Geeta Devi said she would undertake a fast-unto-death in protest soon against the 'inhuman treatment' meted out to her son in jail.

However, jail officials said as per the jail manuals, a prisoner on death row has to sleep on the ground with only two blankets and has to be provided simple food.

'We cannot go against jail manuals,' an official said.

Early last month, Patna Additional District and Sessions Judge Ramshreshta Rai awarded death sentence to Singh, founder of the Bihar People's Party (BPP) who later joined Bihar's ruling JD-U, as well as Akhlaq Ahmad and Arun Kumar, formerly with BPP, for the murder of Krishnaiah on Dec 5, 1994.

The court also gave life imprisonment to four politicians, including Anand, Munna Shukla, a JD-U legislator from Lalganj, Shashi Shekhar Thakur and Harendra Kumar who lost the last Lok Sabha election as a JD-U candidate. All of them were granted bail by the high court.

Krishnaiah, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, was shot at and then stoned to death by a mob near Khaabra village on National Highway 28 when he was returning to Gopalganj from Hajipur via Muzaffarpur after attending an official meeting.

Singh was arrested and jailed for the murder. But he contested the 1996 parliamentary election from prison and won. He then secured bail to attend parliament. He was re-elected in 1998, but lost the 1999 election.

Singh and Shukla are facing several criminal cases, including those relating to murder, attempt to murder, extortion and abduction, in various courts.

Singh's name spelt terror in the Saharsa-Supaul belt while Shukla is feared in the Vaishali-Muzaffarpur belt in north Bihar.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service