Mukhtar Ansari back in jail after treatment

LUCKNOW: In a dramatic turn of events, incarcerated Mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who has been in custody in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005, was returned to jail nearly 14 hours after being admitted to a hospital when his health deteriorated on Monday midnight. Jail authorities admitted him to Rani Durgawati Medical College in Banda in the early hours of Tuesday, as confirmed by senior police officials.

Ansari’s health deteriorated merely five days after he filed an application in the Barabanki MP/MLA court, alleging that he is being given slow poison in the food served to him at Banda district jail.

Director general of prisons and reform administration, SN Sabat, said that doctors had declared him fit after primary treatment, following which he was lodged in Banda jail. “As per doctors, Mukhtar Ansari complained of abdominal pain and was unable to pass stool and flatus for four consecutive days,” he said.

A senior police official said that adequate security arrangements were made at the ward where Mukhtar Ansari was admitted. “Later in the day, Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari, a BSP MP from the Ghazipur constituency, visited the hospital to meet Mukhtar,” he said.

While speaking to mediapersons, Afzal Ansari said that his brother experienced health issues after consuming the evening meal on March 19. He subsequently informed the Barabanki court through his lawyer that he suspects he has been given slow poison in jail.

“Doctors in jail administered at least 28 injections to him, and his health deteriorated. He collapsed in the bathroom last night, after which he was admitted to the medical college around 3:55 am on Tuesday,” Afzal said.

Afzal further informed that Mukhtar is now conscious and able to talk. “He told me that he has been experiencing health issues since March 19, and he faced similar problems around 40 days ago, after which he suspected he was being served poisonous meals,” he emphasised and added, “They might have thought that sending him to the medical college meant his last moments had come, but thankfully he revived after receiving treatment.”

He said that it is an attempt to save Brijesh Singh and Tribhuvan Singh, who are the key accused in attack on Mukhtar Ansari case of July 2001, as he is the main witness in it. He said he had even called up the chief minister’s residence on Tuesday but could not have conversation as he was in Gorakhpur. “I’ll call him again on Wednesday when he is back in Lucknow,” he said.

Afzal further said that Mukhtar’s younger son, Umar Ansari, along with his wife, also reached the hospital, but he was not allowed to meet his father. On December 4,2023, Umar had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, stating that his father, Mukhtar Ansari (60), faced an imminent and serious life threat in Uttar Pradesh jail and appealed to transfer him to any jail outside Uttar Pradesh and to a state ruled by any party other than the Bharatiya Janata Party, seeking intervention in the matter.

In the official statement, the Prison and Reform Service Administration said that Mukhtar Ansari’s health deteriorated on Tuesday night, after which he was immediately rushed to the medical college for treatment. However, the state government has suspended a jailer and two deputy jailers of Banda jail over alleged negligence in Ansari’s security two days ago.

Earlier, on March 13, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Varanasi MP/MLA court in a case of fraudulently obtaining an arms license around 37 years ago. The court also imposed a penalty of ₹2.02 lakh in the matter. This marks the eighth case in which he has been sentenced in the past one and a half years since September 2022, and the second case in which he has been awarded a life term.