Rakesh Pandey, an accused in the 2005 murder case of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai, was gunned down by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) in an encounter near Sarojini Nagar Police Station in Lucknow on Sunday, August 9.

‘Rakesh Pandey killed in an encounter with UP STF near Sarojini Nagar Police Station in Lucknow,’ NDTV quoted Inspector General of Police (STF) Amitabh Yash as saying.

A wanted criminal and accused of many heinous crimes, Rakesh Pandey alias Hanuman Pandey was a resident of UP’s Mau district and carried a bounty of ₹1 lakh.

Krishnanand Rai was a sitting MLA from the Mohammadabad constituency when he was murdered on November 29, 2005, along with six others.

This case was transferred from UP Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after Krishnanand Rai’s wife Alka Rai filed a plea in 2013, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Ghazipur to Delhi.

Alka Rai had approached the Delhi High Court in October last year and challenged the acquittal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and others in the case.

While acquitting all the accused, the CBI court observed that it was a gruesome case involving the murder of seven people. During the trial, the eyewitnesses and other material witnesses had turned hostile.

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