A Banda court in Uttar Pradesh on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who died last night allegedly due to cardiac arrest.
Banda Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Bhagwan Das Gupta appointed Garima Singh, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (MP-MLA Court Banda) as the officer in charge of the inquiry, directing her to submit the report within a month.
The order was taken on a letter submitted by the Senior Superintendent of District Jail, Banda, seeking a judicial inquiry by the concerned CJM into the death of the former MLA.
Ansari’s death has triggered accusations of foul play from his family. His son, Umar Ansari, has claimed that his father was “fed poison in his food” on March 19, which ultimately resulted in his death.
Ansari, who was facing conviction in eight cases, passed away on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest in Banda jail.
As per jail officials, he was admitted to Banda Medical College earlier in the day after he was found lying unconscious in his barrack.
The jail officials immediately spotted him and took him to the district hospital, where he died during treatment.
The Uttar Pradesh police has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which bars large gatherings, across the state following Ansari’s death.
Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said that special deployment of police personnel has been done in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi districts.
Earlier on March 26, the former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA was found unconscious and was referred to the district hospital. He had complained of pain in the abdomen and constipation. He was discharged after treatment in 15 hours.
Advocate Randheer Singh Suman, lawyer of the former MLA, had filed an application in a Barabanki court seeking proper medical examination alleging that ‘slow poisoning’ was being administered to Ansari by Banda prison staff where he was presently lodged.
Total 65 cases had been registered against Ansari out of which, 21 were pending in various courts. He was sentenced in eight cases and had remained behind bars since 2005 in different jails of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
On March 13, 2024, Ansari was awarded life imprisonment in a case related to acquisition of an arms license using counterfeit documentation in 1990.
In June 2023, an MP/MLA court in Varanasi had sentenced the former BSP MLA to life imprisonment in the murder of Awadhesh Rai, brother of UP Congress president Ajay Rai. Ansari was sentenced to five and a half years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000.
In October 2023, an MP/MLA court had convicted Ansari under the Gangster Act. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined Rs 5 lakh for his involvement in the murder case of teacher Kapil Dev Singh in 2009.
On October 15, 2023, the Enforcement Directorate took action against Ansari as part of a money laundering probe. Assets including land, a building, and bank deposits totalling over Rs 73.43 lakh were attached by the agency.
In April 2023, Ansari was convicted in another Gangster Act case, lodged against him for his involvement in the kidnapping of Vishwa Hindu Parishad office-bearer Nandkishore Rungta in 1996 and also in the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005.
In December 2022, a Court in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur District convicted former MLA Mukhtar Ansari and his aide (Bhim Singh) in a 26-year-old Gangster Case.
Earlier in September 2022, the Allahabad High Court had convicted him in two cases. In one of the cases, the High Court had found him guilty of intimidating a Jailer who was performing public duty by abusing him and pointing a revolver/pistol toward him, and threatening to kill him in 2003.
In another case, the High Court had convicted Ansari to 5 years in jail in connection with a 23-year-old case registered under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.
Ansari had been elected as an MLA from the Mau constituency five times, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last contested the Assembly elections in 2017.