Mukhtar Ansari, a prominent MLA from Uttar Pradesh, was involved in the criminal underworld and was imprisoned in Varanasi for many criminal activities.
Mukhtar Ansari, who was born in 1963 into an upscale family, was involved in both politics and the criminal underworld in Uttar Pradesh. The politician-gangster was charged with 65 counts of criminal activity, including 14 murder cases. Since September 2022, he has been found guilty in 8 of these cases and given a sentence. He has also been elected as an MLA five times on the platforms of various political parties.
Shortly before being declared dead in a Banda hospital on Thursday due to a cardiac arrest, Mukhtar Ansari, 63, was taken to the Rani Durgawati Medical College from the Banda prison for the second time in a week.
The family history of Mukhtar Ansari
Mukhtar Ansari came from an eminent background with a strong history in India’s independence movement. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, his paternal grandfather, was a well-known figure in the Indian National Congress. He led the organization as president in 1927 and then as chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia until his passing in 1936.
Mukhtar Ansari’s grandfather, Brigadier Mohammad Usman, was an identified Indian Army officer. In 1948, while fighting with Pakistan in the Jammu and Kashmir region, he was killed. He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra in his memory.
The Criminal Activity of Mukhtar Ansari in His Young Age
Mukhtar Ansari was born in 1963 into an upscale family. When Ansari was just 15 years old in 1978, he had his first experience with crime. When he was arrested for criminal assault at the Saidpur Police Station in Ghazipur, it was his first encounter with the law.
Once he had established himself as a prominent figure in the contract mafia, nearly ten years later, in 1986, a new murder case was brought against him at the Muhammad Police Station in Ghazipur.
Ansari became a familiar face of crime over the ensuing ten years, as at least 14 more cases with serious charges were brought against him.
The entry of Mukhtar Ansari into politics
The gangster-turned-politician, who had been elected five times as an MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Mau on the platforms of various political parties, had turned to crime to establish himself and his gang within the state’s thriving government contract mafia.
Still, his growing criminal record didn’t stop him from entering politics. Ansari was initially chosen as an MLA in the Uttar Pradesh assembly in 1996, running on a ticket from Mau’s Bahujan Samaj Party. He successfully ran for the seat in the assembly elections of 2002 and 2007 as an independent.
Brijesh Singh’s dominance in the Poorvanchal region was challenged by Mukhtar Ansari, a well-known criminal in Mau. Ansari’s men were killed in a shootout in 2002, which sparked a conflict with Singh. Singh backed the election campaign of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai to counter Ansari’s influence. Following the 2006 death of Krishnanand Rai, Ansari was apprehended in 2008 but was found not guilty of the murder charge.
He launched Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) in 2012 and won from Mau. In 2017, he defeated Mau once more. He gave up his seat in 2022 to his son, Abbas Ansari, who was elected on the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party ticket.
Criminal records of Mukhtar Ansari
- Ansari had been imprisoned in several UP and Punjabi jails since 2005 when he passed away. Since 2005, there have been 28 criminal cases against him, including murder, and 7 cases under the UP Gangster Act.
- Ansari was given a life sentence in Varanasi courts for obtaining an arms license illegally 37 years ago. Ansari was found guilty in 8 criminal cases.
- On September 21, 2022, he was given seven years in prison for making threats against the Lucknow district jail’s jailor in 2003.
- On September 23, 2022, in a Gangster Act case brought against him in 1999 at the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court fined Ansari Rs. 50,000 and sentenced him to five years of hard labor.
- On December 15, 2022, in two different Gangster Act cases brought against him in 1996 and 2007, the Ghazipur MP/MLA court sentenced him to ten years in prison and fined him Rs five lakh each.
- On April 29, 2023, Ansari was given a 10-year prison term by the Ghazipur MP/MLA court in a case involving the assassination of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.
- On June 5, 2023, in Varanasi, Ansari was given a life sentence for the murder of Awadesh Rai, the elder brother of Congress President Ajay Rai. On August 3, 1991, Awadesh Rai and his brother Ajay were standing outside their home in the Lahurabir locality of Varanasi when Awadesh Rai was shot.
- On October 27, 2023, in a Gangster Act case brought against him in 2010, a Ghazipur MP/MLA court sentenced him to ten years of hard labor and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
- On December 15, 2023, for threatening Mahavir Prasad Rungta and abandoning the investigation into the abduction and killing of Nand Kishore Rungta, Ansari was given a five-year and six-month prison sentence.
The Ansari gang has been the target of intense police attention since 2020. The police have either destroyed or seized the gang’s criminal property, which was valued at Rs 608 crore. Over Rs 215 crore worth of legal business, contracts, or tenders belonging to the gang were also stopped by the police during this time.