Ghazipur: Before the CBI could probe into the murder of Uttar Pradesh BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai, the sole witness in the case allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison on Wednesday.

A CBI probe into the high-profile assassination was ordered by the Allahabad High Court on an application filed by Rai's widow Alka, who had alleged tardy and partial inquiry by the Uttar Pradesh Police and its elite Special Task Force (STF).

ASP Sureshwar Prasad said here that the witness, Shashikant Rai of Singhadi village in Bhanwarkil area, was putting up at his friend Umashankar Pandey's residence for the last three to four days.

Last evening, Shashikant consumed liquor and was taken to the district hospital on Wednesday morning in a critical condition. He was declared dead.

Investigations are under way to ascertain the cause of his death even as the ASP suspected it to be a case of suicide by consuming poison.

Ruling Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari, his younger brother don-turned-Independent MLA from Mau Mukhtar and their brother-in-law Ejaz are the prime accused in the MLA's killing. The three are lodged in Ghazipur prison.

Rai, an MLA from Mohammadabad Assembly constituency in Ghazipur district, and his seven supporters were shot dead in broad daylight in Ghazipur on November 29, last year.

They were ambushed near the Ballia-Ghazipur border by several motorcycle-borne miscreants armed with sophisticated weapons.

Later, an FIR was lodged against 10 people including Mukhtar, Afzal and notorious East UP gangster Munna Bajrangi in connection with the killing.

Afzal had surrendered in the court on December 8.

Mukhtar and 32 others are also accused in Mau communal riots, which had rocked the district on October 14 last year during a `Bharat Milap' ceremony. -- UNI

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