Mukhtar Ansari awarded prison term in seventh case in 15 months

Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who has been behind bars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005, has been awarded prison terms in seven cases in the last fifteen months.

On Friday, the Varanasi MP/MLA court sentenced the former legislator to five years and six months in prison for issuing life threats to the brother of coal trader and BJP leader Nand Kishore Rungta. Mahavir Prasad Rungta, the brother, had alleged that he was being forced to turn hostile and not pursue the kidnapping and murder case of Nand Kishore registered on January 22, 1997.

The court also slapped a penalty of ₹10,000 on him and stated that Ansari must spend two extra months in jail if the penalty amount was not paid.

Sharing further details, UP Police special director general (special DG) (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said this was the seventh case in which Ansari was convicted and given punishments since September 2022. Out of the seven cases, four were related to the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act of 1986, informally referred to as the Gangsters Act.

Kumar said the Ghazipur MP/MLA court, on October 27 this year, gave him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a penalty of ₹5 lakh in a Gangsters Act case lodged against him in 2010. He added the same court sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment in another case earlier on April 29.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, on September 23, 2022, awarded him five years of rigorous imprisonment in a Gangsters Act case registered against the five-time MLA in 1999, at the Hazratganj police station of Lucknow. A penalty of ₹50,000 was imposed on him in the case, Kumar added.

On December 15, 2022, the Ghazipur MP/MLA court sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment in each of the two Gangsters Act cases lodged against him in 1996 and 2007. Also, he was fined ₹5 lakh in each case.

The special DG said the Varanasi MP/MLA court, on June 5, sentenced Ansari to life imprisonment for the murder of Awadesh Rai, the elder brother of former MLA and current UP Congress president Ajay Rai. The elder brother was sprayed with bullets outside his house in the Lahurabeer locality of Varanasi on August 3, 1991.

Kumar added Ansari’s first conviction, in the last 15 months, was given by the Lucknow bench. He was slapped with seven years of imprisonment on September 21, 2022, for threatening the jailor of the Lucknow district jail in 2003. The jailor had alleged that Ansari threatened and even pinned a gun at him when he screened people who came to the jail to meet Ansari.