Mukhtar Ansari convicted for sixth time in 13 months

Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who has been behind bars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005, was convicted in six separate cases registered against him in the last thirteen months.

Ghazipur additional district government counsel (criminal) Neeraj Srivastava said, Ansari’s latest conviction came when the Gazhipur MP/MLA court on Thursday found him guilty in the gangster case lodged against him in 2010 after the murder of one Kapil Dev Singh under Karanda police station limits of Gazhipur district in 2009 and in the 2010 attempt to murder case of one Mir Hasan in which Ansari was accused as key conspirators. This was a 13-year-old case.

He further said the court has fixed October 27 as the date for pronouncing the sentence.

He informed that the deceased Kapil Dev Singh was a resident of Sabua and Mir Hasan a resident of Mohammadabad in Ghazipur. After the murder of Kapil Dev Singh in 2009 and attempt to murder of Mir Hasan, police registered a case under Gangster Act against Mukhtar Ansari based on the complaints in the two cases.

UP police special director general (law and order), Prashant Kumar said Ansari was earlier convicted by Varanasi MP/MLA court on June 5 this year. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of Awadesh Rai, the elder brother of former Congress MLA and present UP Congress president Ajay Rai, said senior police officials.

On August 3, 1991, Rai was sprayed with bullets when he and brother Ajay were standing outside their house in the Lahurabeer locality of Varanasi. The five assailants, who came in a van, opened fire on Rai, who was then declared brought dead by the hospital. Rai’s killing was said to be the fallout of Ansari’s enmity with another gangster-politician Brijesh Singh, with whom Rai was said to be close.

On April 29 this year, the Ghazipur MP/MLA court had sentenced Ansari to 10 years of imprisonment in another case registered against him under the Gangster Act in 2007 in connection with the killing of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai on November 29, 2005, and the kidnapping-murder of BJP leader and Kishore Rungta on January 22, 1997.

“In the 2007 case, Mukhtar and his MP brother Afzal Ansari were convicted and slapped with 10-year and four-year prison terms, respectively. The court had imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh and ₹1 lakh on Mukhtar and Afzal,” said a senior police official.

The UP special DG, law and order, Prashant Kumar said the sentencing of Mukhtar Ansari, a former MLA, in long pending cases were possible only due to the effective monitoring of prosecution officials as well as the strong commitment and zero political interference in action against criminal elements.

Kumar added Ansari’s first conviction in the last 13 months was awarded by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court. He was slapped with seven years of imprisonment on September 21, 2022, for threatening the jailor of the Lucknow district jail in 2003.

He said the jailor had lodged an FIR against Ansari at the Alambagh police station of Lucknow for issuing threats when he screened people who came to meet Ansari in the jail, and even pointed a gun at him.

Ansari’s second conviction was done by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court that was hearing a Gangster Act case registered against the ex-MLA in 1999, Kumar added. In the case, which was registered at the Hazratganj police station of the state capital, Ansari was awarded two years of imprisonment and slapped with a fine of ₹10,000.

His third conviction was also in a Gangster Act case registered in Ghazipur district in 1999, wherein a local court sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on him on December 15, 2022.

Ansari was convicted for the first time by a Delhi court and sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment on February 4, 2003 in Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) case lodged against him on December 10, 1993. The Supreme Court later set aside the Delhi court conviction and acquitted him on April 21, 2005.

Notably, the state police, so far, have confiscated properties over worth ₹300 crore owned by Ansari and his gang members, under the provisions of the Gangster Act. Also, properties worth ₹284.77 lakh were demolished, and illegal possessions were freed from Ansari and his men, he added.