Mukhtar Ansari straddled the worlds of crime and politics in Uttar Pradesh. The gangster-politician was booked in 65 prison instances starting from homicide to extortion and was elected an MLA 5 instances on the tickets of various political events.
Mr. Ansari, 63, died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Banda on Thursday.
Born into an influential household in 1963, Mr. Ansari entered the world of crime to determine himself and his gang in the federal government contract mafia that was then flourishing in the State.
His tryst with crime started as early as 1978, when Mr. Ansari was simply 15 years of age. He had his first brush with the legislation when he was booked for prison intimidation at Saidpur Police Station of Ghazipur.
Almost a decade later in 1986, by the point he had turn into a widely known face in the contract mafia circle, one other case of homicide was lodged towards him at Muhammad Police Station of Ghazipur.
Over the subsequent decade, Mr. Ansari grew to become a standard face of crime with at the very least 14 extra instances underneath severe fees lodged towards him.
His rising prison graph, nevertheless, didn’t hinder his entry in politics.
Political journey
Mr. Ansari was first elected an MLA in the U.P. meeting in 1996 on a ticket from Bahujan Samaj Party from Mau. He continued his profitable run on the seat as an unbiased candidate in 2002 and 2007 meeting elections.
In 2012, he launched Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) and received from Mau once more.
Mr. Ansari received from Mau once more in 2017. In 2022 he vacated the seat for his son Abbas Ansari who received from the seat on the ticket of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party.
Since 2005, until his loss of life, Mr. Ansari had been lodged in totally different jails of U.P. and Punjab.
He had 28 prison instances, together with that of homicide, and seven instances underneath the UP’s Gangster Act registered towards him since 2005.
He had been convicted in eight prison instances since September 2022 and was going through trial in 21 instances in totally different courts.
Mr. Ansari was awarded life time period and a penalty of Rs 2.02 lakh by Varanasi MP/MLA earlier this month in a case of fraudulently acquiring an arms licence round 37 years in the past.
This was the eighth case in which he was sentenced in the previous 18 months by totally different courts of U.P. and the second in which he was awarded a life time period.
On December 15, 2023, a Varanasi MP/MLA court docket sentenced Mr. Ansari for 5 years and six months for giving loss of life risk to Mahavir Prasad Rungta for turning hostile and not pursue a case involving the kidnapping and homicide of BJP chief and coal dealer Nand Kishore Rungta on January 22, 1997.
On October 27, 2023, a Ghazipur MP/MLA court docket had awarded him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and penalty of ₹5 lakh in a Gangster Act case lodged towards him in 2010.
On June 5, 2023, a Varanasi MP/MLA had awarded life imprisonment to Mr. Ansari in the case of homicide of Awadesh Rai, the elder brother of former Congress MLA and current U.P. Congress president Ajay Rai.
Awadesh Rai was sprayed with bullets when he and brother Ajay have been standing exterior their home in the Lahurabir locality of Varanasi on August 3, 1991.
On April 29, 2023, Ghazipur MP/MLA court docket had sentenced Ansari to 10 years of imprisonment in a case of homicide of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad excessive court docket had on September 23, 2022, awarded Mr. Ansari 5 years of rigorous imprisonment in a Gangster Act case registered towards him in 1999 at Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow and imposed a superb on him ₹50,000.
The Ghazipur MP/MLA court docket on December 15, 2022, had awarded him 10 years of imprisonment and slapped a penalty of ₹5 lakh every in two separate instances of Gangster Act lodged towards him in 1996 and 2007.
Mr. Ansari’s first conviction in the final 13 months was awarded by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad excessive court docket.
He was awarded seven years of imprisonment on September 21, 2022, for threatening the jailor of the Lucknow district jail in 2003.
The Uttar Pradesh authorities needed to strategy the Supreme Court to convey Ansari again to the state from Ropar jail in Punjab.
Ansari, then a BSP MLA, was lodged in the Ropar jail in January 2019 in reference to an extortion case and remained there for a interval of greater than two years.
In March 2021, whereas listening to a plea of the U.P. authorities, the SC had directed the Punjab authorities at hand over Ansari’s custody to UP, saying it was being denied on trivial grounds underneath the guise of medical points.
The court docket had additionally stated {that a} convict or an under-trial prisoner, who disobeys the legislation of the land, can’t oppose his switch from one jail to a different and the courts are to not be helpless bystanders when the rule of legislation is being challenged with impunity.
Since 2020, Mr. Ansari gang had been underneath an intense warmth from police, which both seized or demolished unlawful property value ₹608 crore belonging to the gang.
Illegal enterprise, contracts, or tenders value ₹215 crore of the gang was additionally stopped by the police in this era.
