Bihar: Former MP facing death sentence goes on hunger strike

Former member of Parliament Anand Mohan, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah, has been on a hunger strike for the last two days. Mohan is protesting the lack of facilities in Bhagalpur Jail, where he is currently lodged.

Moreover, Anand Mohan was also irked by the jail authorities' decision to separate him from his associates -- former MLA and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Akhlaq Ahmed and Arun Kumar – who were also awarded the capital punishment in the same case.

Jail officials in Bhagalpur said that Anand Mohan, a former MP from Sheohar, went on the hunger strike from Sunday night to protest the jail authorities' decision.

However, a jail official dismissed the hunger strike as, "a pressure tactic to get facilites like cots, food from outside and the company of his associates."

Anand Mohan, along with Akhlaq Ahmed, Arun Kumar and six other death row inmates, was shifted from Patna's Beur Jail to the high-security Bhagalpur jail on Saturday.

A senior official of the Bhagalpur jail told rediff.com that as per the jail manual, a convict sentenced to death had to sleep on the ground. The convict was only provided with two blankets and given simple food.

On October 3, a Patna court had sentenced Anand Mohan, Akhlaq Ahmed and Arun Kumar to death for the murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994.