Former Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Udaybhan Karwariya, who was serving a life sentence for the 1996 murder of a Samajwadi Party MLA, was released on Thursday after he was pardoned by Governor Anandiben Patel, PTI reported.

The pardon order was issued last week.

Samajwadi Party legislator Jawahar Yadav was shot dead in Prayagraj in August 1996. In 2019, Karwariya was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case.

Patel pardoned Karwariya after accepting a recommendation on the matter from the BJP government in the state, PTI reported. Under Article 161 of the Constitution, a governor has the power to grant pardons, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases.

The recommendation to release the former BJP MLA was made by the Prayagraj senior superintendent of police and the district magistrate on the basis of his good conduct in jail, the news agency quoted an unidentified official as saying.

A case was filed against Karwariya, his brothers Kapilmuni Karwariya and Surajbhan Karwariya, and another person in 1996. In 2015, the Karwariya brothers surrendered before the police, reported The Telegraph.

While the initial investigation was carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Police, it was later transferred to the state’s Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department.

On Thursday, Jawahar Yadav’s wife Vijma Yadav described Udaybhan Karwariya’s release as illegal and questioned the decision of the state government, the Hindustan Times reported.

“The [state] government pardoned Udaybhan earlier in 2018 on which [Allahabad] High Court put a restriction,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “The case was pending at the High Court, but the government still issued orders to release him.”

Vijma Yadav, who is also a Samajwadi Party MLA from Pratappur, said that the order will be challenged in court.

“All prisoners who have committed murders and have received life terms should be released if Udyabhan is being released on such basis,” she added.