Asaduddin Owaisi says ‘Mukhtar Ansari is a martyr', triggers row
Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that Ansari was given poison and it was the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government to protect the politician.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has triggered a row by calling the late mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari a martyr. Ansari died due to cardiac arrest in Banda jail last month.
Also Read: Asaduddin Owaisi visits Mukhtar Ansari's Ghazipur residence: ‘We stand with family’
While addressing a poll-bound rally in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi, Owaisi claimed that Ansari was given poison and it was the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government to protect the politician.
Mukhtar Ansari was in judicial custody, and he was killed by giving poison. He is a martyr; don’t call him dead. It was the responsibility of the BJP govt to protect him,” Times of India quoted Owaisi as saying.
The AIMIM supremo further recalled the assassination of another gangster-turned-politician, Atiq Ahmad, and his brother Ashraf, who were shot dead by three men posing as journalists in April last year while they were being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj.
"It was the responsibility of the BJP government to save the people, but it failed. Nature gets angry with the one who commits atrocities,” he said.
Also Read: No poison found in Mukhtar Ansari’s viscera: Police
Owaisi further slammed the BJP government and Akhilesh Yadav's SP saying that Varanasi does not belong to PM Modi, but to Ustad Bismillah Khan, Tulsidas and Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb.
"I want to tell PM Modi and Akhilesh Yadav that PDM will not be limited to the limits of Parliament only. This will be the beginning of PDM in the coming Parliament and also in the legislativel assembly elections," he added.
Meanwhile, the viscera report of the slain gangster revealed that no poison was detected in the viscera of Ansari, contrary to the allegations of his family members' allegations.
The postmortem report of Ansari had earlier said that the reason for his death was "myocardial refraction" or heart attack. Ansari's family, however, had been insisting that he was subjected to slow poisoning in jail.
"We have got the Forensic Science Lab report that has confirmed that no traces of poison were found in the viscera. This has been given to the probe panel led by Banda Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate," a senior officer was quoted by PTI.
However, Ansari's brother Afzal said they do not trust either the postmortem or the viscera reports. "The correct sample of viscera was not sent for investigation," he said.
