The Uttar Pradesh government is considering filing of an appeal in the High Court against the acquittal of alleged mafia don turned politician Mukhtar Ansari and six others in the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case.

An official spokesman said here on Thursday that legal opinion is being sought and an appeal would be filed after examining the judgement delivered by a trial court in Delhi on Wednesday

The spokesman said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognizance of the verdict of the Delhi trial court. BharatiyaJanata Party MLA from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur districtKrishnanand Rai was murdered along with six others on 29 November, 2005 when he was returning from Siyari village to Kanuwan in Ghazipur district after inaugurating a cricket match. It was for the first time that AK-47s were used for executing a cold blooded killing in the state.

Those who died in the attack reportedly executed by six assailants were Rai, his associate Shyam Shankar Rai, Ramesh Rai, AkhileshRai, Sheshnath Patel, MunnaYadav and the MLA’s gunner, NirbhayNarainUpadhyaya. Such was the impact of the vicious attack that all the seven died on the spot. When police reached the spot about 400 bullet shells, purportedly fired from AK-47 assault rifles, were recovered from the spot. Informed sources said more than 60 bullets were retrieved from the bodies of the deceased in the autopsy. Mukhtar Ansari was named as an accused in the second chargesheet which was filed by the UP police on March 15, 2006. In the first chargesheet filed on February 21, 2006, Ansari’s brother, Afzal Ansari, AjazulHaq, Prem Prakash Singh alias MunnaBajrangi, Ataur Rahman and Firdaus were named as accused.

the CBI following the orders of the Allahabad High Court in May 2006. In the subsequent chargesheets filed by the CBI,Sanjeev Maheshwari, Rakesh Pandey, Ramu Mallah,Mansoor Ansari,Afroz Khan, Vishwas and Jafar were named as accused.

Firdaus and MunnaBajrangi, who was killed in mysterious circumstances in Baghpat jail in July last year, died during the pendency of the trial.

A closure report was filed against Afroz and Ata-urRahman, Vishwas and Jafar were declared as absconders. On Wednesday, Mukhtar Ansari and six others were acquitted by the special CBI court in Delhi for lack of evidence. The others acquitted by the CBI court are Afzal Ansari, Mansoor Ansari, EjazulHaq, Rakesh Pandey, RamuMallah and SanjeevMaheshwari. Mukhtar Ansari has been in jail since 2005; he is presently incarcerated in Banda jail.