Mr Rai was shot dead outside his brother Ajay Rai’s house in Varanasi on August 3, 1991.
According to lawyers, the two brothers were standing at the gate of their house around 1 am, when some assailants allegedly including Ansari, came in a car and shot Awadhesh.
In retaliation, Rai fired from his licensed pistol but the assailants fled leaving the car behind. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in Kabirchaura, however, the doctors declared him dead.
Ajay Rai is a Congress leader and former MLA, who is now a regional chief of his party’s Uttar Pradesh unit.
Soon after his brother’s murder, Ajay Rai filed an FIR at Chetganj police station in Varanasi in which he named Mukhtar Ansari and MLAs Abdul Kalam, Bhim Singh, Kamlesh Singh, and Rakesh Srivastava alias Rakesh Justice.
Kalam and Singh died and others were lodged in jail.
Welcoming the court’s judgment, Rai said that it is the ‘end of our 32-year struggle against a notorious criminal.’
‘I, my parents, Awadhesh’s daughter, and the whole family kept patience… Governments came and went and Mukhtar strengthened himself. But we did not give up. Because of our lawyers’ efforts, today the court has found Mukhtar guilty in the murder case of my brother,’ he said.
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