BSP demands probe into gangster Mukhtar Ansari's death; Sec 144 imposed in UP

Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati on Friday demanded a high-level inquiry into the death of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, saying the truth of the case needs to come before the public.

Ansari, 63, died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

In a post on X, the BSP president said "The persistent apprehensions and serious allegations made by Mukhtar Anasari's family regarding his death in jail require a high-level investigation so that the true facts of his death can be revealed."

Bhim Army founder and Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) president Chandra Shekhar Aazad demanded a CBI investigation into the death of Ansari.

"The untimely demise of former MLA Mukhtar Ansari is very sad. I pay my humble tribute. My condolences to his family and supporters, may nature give them the strength to bear this immense loss," Aazad posted on X in Hindi.

"Earlier he had expressed apprehension that he will be murdered. I demand from the High Court of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh for a CBI investigation into his death," the Dalit leader added.

Aazad's party is in the fray for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed across the state and teams of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with the local police have been deployed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said earlier.

People had also started gathering at Mukhtar Ansari's residence in Ghazipur and there was a large deployment of security personnel around the house.

Officials at the police headquarters here said the postmortem will be conducted at the Banda Medical College by a panel of doctors and the procedure will be videographed.

The 63-year-old Ansari was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in "an unconscious state" on Thursday evening and died at the hospital following a cardiac arrest, according to its principal Suneel Kaushal.

Ansari's family has alleged that he was subjected to slow poisoning in jail, a charge denied by authorities.

Who was Ansari?
Mukhtar Ansari straddled the worlds of crime and politics in Uttar Pradesh. He entered the domain of crime when he was just 15 and ended up being booked in 65 criminal cases. Ansari, who was elected an MLA five times, died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Banda on Thursday. Born into an influential family in 1963, Ansari got into crime to establish himself and his gang in the government contract mafia that was then flourishing in the state.

He had his first brush with the law in 1978 when he was booked for criminal intimidation at Saidpur Police Station of Ghazipur.

Ansari was first elected an MLA in the Uttar Pradesh 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 again. Since 2005, till his death, Ansari had been lodged in different jails in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

He had 28 criminal cases, including that of murder, and seven cases under the UP's 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 courts.

Ansari was awarded a life term and a penalty of Rs 2.02 lakh by Varanasi MP/MLA 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 Uttar Pradesh and the second in which he was awarded a life term.

On December 15, 2023, a Varanasi MP/MLA court sentenced Ansari to 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, 1997.