As soon as the news of death of mafia Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in Banda Jail, due to heart attack was received late on Thursday evening, the sound of AK-47 bullets fired at Basniya Chatti 19 years and eight months ago echoed in the minds of the people of the district.  Seven people, including BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, were brutally murdered.  This murder remained in the headlines at the national level for several months.  Not only the district but the entire state was shocked by this incident. Seven people were gunned down in broad daylight

On 29 November 2005, MLA Krishnanand Rai was going to his ancestral village Godur after inaugurating a cricket competition in Kanuwan of his area.  At around 2.45 pm, seven people, including MLA Krishnanand Rai and his gunner, were killed in a political rivalry near Basaniya village on Lathudih Kotwa road.  After this incident, the entire Purvanchal including Ghazipur, Varanasi, Mau and Azamgarh was shaken.Purvanchal was shaken after the murder of Krishnanand Rai.  Buses were burnt, government properties were damaged.  Senior leaders of BJP had opened a front against the Mulayam government.  On the orders of the High Court, the investigation was handed over to CBI.  The case was transferred to Delhi on the petition of former MLA Alka Rai, wife of Krishnanand Rai, but due to lack of evidence, on July 3, 2019, Delhi's CBI court acquitted everyone including Mukhtar and Afzal.Gangster action was taken against Mukhtar Ansari and Afzal Ansari in the year 2007 regarding the cases registered in Muhammadabad and Karanda police stations.  The case of murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, kidnapping and murder of Varanasi coal businessman and VHP leader Nand Kishore Rungta were included in the gang chart.  In this case, on April 29, 2023, the MP/MLA court had sentenced Mukhtar to ten years and brother BSP MP Afzal Ansari to four years.  A fine was also imposed.