Mukhtar Ansari: A career in crime and politics

Mukhtar Ansari straddled the worlds of crime and politics in Uttar Pradesh The gangsterpolitician was booked in 65 criminal cases ranging from murder to extortion and was elected an MLA five times on the tickets of different political parties Ansari 63 died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Banda on Thursday Born into an influential family in 1963 Ansari entered the world of crime to establish himself and his gang in the government contract mafia that was then flourishing in the stateHis tryst with crime began as early as 1978 when Ansari was just 15 years of age He had his first brush with the law when he was booked for criminal intimidation at Saidpur Police Station of Ghazipur Almost a decade later in 1986 by the time he had become a wellknown face in the contract mafia circle another case of murder was lodged against him at Muhammad Police Station of GhazipurOver the next decade Ansari became a common face of crime with at least 14 more cases under serious charges lodged against him His growing criminal graph however did not hinder his entry in politics Ansari was first elected an MLA in the UP assembly in 1996 on a ticket from Bahujan Samaj Party from Mau He continued his successful run on the seat as an independent candidate in 2002 and 2007 assembly elections In 2012 he launched Qaumi Ekta Dal QED and won from Mau againHe won from Mau again in 2017 In 2022 he vacated the seat for his son Abbas Ansari who won from the seat on the ticket of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party Since 2005 till his death Ansari had been lodged in different jails of UP and Punjab He had 28 criminal cases including that of murder and seven cases under the UPs Gangster Act registered against him since 2005 He had been convicted in eight criminal cases since September 2022 and was facing trial in 21 cases in different courtsAnsari was awarded a life term and a penalty of Rs 202 lakh by Varanasi MPMLA earlier this month in a case of fraudulently obtaining an arms licence around 37 years ago This was the eighth case in which he was sentenced in the past 18 months by different courts of UP and the second in which he was awarded a life term On December 15 2023 a Varanasi MPMLA court sentenced Ansari for five years and six months for giving death threat to Mahavir Prasad Rungta for turning hostile and not pursue a case involving the kidnapping and murder of BJP leader and coal trader Nand Kishore Rungta on January 22 1997On October 27 2023 a Ghazipur MPMLA court had awarded him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and penalty of 5 lakh in a Gangster Act case lodged against him in 2010 On June 5 2023 a Varanasi MPMLA had awarded life imprisonment to Ansari in the case of murder of Awadesh Rai the elder brother of former Congress MLA and present UP Congress president Ajay RaiAwadesh Rai was sprayed with bullets when he and his brother Ajay were standing outside their house in the Lahurabir locality of Varanasi on August 3 1991 On April 29 2023 Ghazipur MPMLA court had sentenced Ansari to 10 years of imprisonment in a case of murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court had on September 23 2022 awarded Ansari five years of rigorous imprisonment in a Gangster Act case registered against him in 1999 at Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow and imposed a fine on him Rs 50000The Ghazipur MPMLA court on December 15 2022 had awarded him 10 years of imprisonment and slapped a penalty of 5 lakh each in two separate cases of Gangster Act lodged against him in 1996 and 2007 Ansaris first conviction in the last 13 months was awarded by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court He was awarded seven years of imprisonment on September 21 2022 for threatening the jailor of the Lucknow district jail in 2003The Uttar Pradesh government had to approach the Supreme Court to bring Ansari back to the state from Ropar jail in Punjab Ansari then a BSP MLA was lodged in the Ropar jail in January 2019 in connection with an extortion case and remained there for a period of more than two years In March 2021 while hearing a plea of the UP government the SC had directed the Punjab government to hand over Ansaris custody to UP saying it was being denied on trivial grounds under the guise of medical issuesThe court had also said that a convict or an undertrial prisoner who disobeys the law of the land cannot oppose his transfer from one prison to another and the courts are not to be helpless bystanders when the rule of law is being challenged with impunity Since 2020 Ansari gang had been under an intense heat from police which either seized or demolished illegal property worth Rs 608 crore belonging to the gang Illegal business contracts or tenders worth over Rs 215 crore of the gang was also stopped by the police in this periodThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday 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