Mukhtar Ansari, a gangster-turned-politician who was imprisoned, passed away on Thursday night from a cardiac arrest. Since 2005, the five-time former MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Mau district has been imprisoned in both the state and Punjab.
According to a medical bulletin, the 63-year-old, who was being held in a jail in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in the district by jail officials on Thursday night at 8:25 p.m. after claiming to have vomited.
Ansari, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Mau district five times, had been imprisoned since 2005 on a number of charges.
Following Ansari’s death, news agency PTI reported that prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) had been imposed throughout Uttar Pradesh, and a substantial police team had been stationed outside the hospital shortly after he was taken there.
Prior Hospitalization
Ansari was admitted to the hospital in the wee hours of Tuesday and was released after almost fourteen hours. At that time, his brother, Afzal Ansari, MP for Ghazipur, had stated that the gangster-turned-politician was receiving a “poisonous substance” while incarcerated.
Mukhtar claimed that while he was incarcerated, a poison was given to him in his food. This is the second time it has happened. It was about forty days ago that he was also given poison. And recently, on March 19 or 22, he was given this poison once more, which is why his condition is bad,” PTI had quoted Afzal Ansari as saying.
61 Criminal cases
Mukhtar a Mau resident, was the subject of 61 criminal cases, fifteen of which involved murder allegations. In the 1980s, he joined a gang, and in the 1990s, he started his own. The gang operated in the districts of Mau, Ghazipur, Varanasi, and Jaunpur, engaging in kidnapping and extortion.
During the Ghazipur-Mau area elections, Mukhtar Ansari used the Muslim votebank to his advantage and won the election. A combination of politics, religion, and crime led to multiple episodes of intercommunal violence in the area. Ansari was consequently charged with inciting violence after one of these riots. Yet, the court later cleared him of these accusations.
After a machine gun was discovered in his hiding place in 2004, he was charged under the now-scrapped Prevention of Terrorism Act and had been imprisoned since the following year. He was given a life sentence on March 13 of this year in connection with a 1990 fake gun license case, and in April 2023, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for the murder of BJP MLA Krisnanand Rai.
Ansari Sons
Reportedly, Abbas Ansari, the imprisoned son of Mukhtar Ansari, has petitioned the Supreme Court for parole so that he can participate in his father’s funeral ceremonies.
In the meantime, Omar Ansari, the son of the deceased don, has also written a letter to the Banda district magistrate requesting that the doctors at AIIMS, Delhi, perform his father’s postmortem.
In the Kali Bagh Graveyard in Ghazipur, arrangements are in progress for the funeral of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. A postmortem will be performed before his body is given to his son, Umar Ansari.
After Mukhtar Ansari’s death, Ghazipur SP Omvir Singh made some comments regarding law and order.
The district administration as a whole is on high alert since this news broke last night. The family has informed us that the final ceremonies will take place following morning prayers. A large crowd is anticipated because plans have been made for the people who will be attending to pay their respects. However, he told ANI, “I appeal to the people that the Model Code of Conduct is in effect for general elections and that action will be taken as per law if it is violated by any means or statements made by anyone.
A number of politicians have demanded an investigation into the claims made by the worried gangster’s family, including Chief Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajadi Party, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, Chief Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM, and Chief Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
