Jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

New Delhi, March 28

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Jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari, 60, died due to a cardiac arrest at a local hospital in Banda on Thursday. A medical bulletin issued by Rani Durgavati Medical College, Banda, put the time of his death at 8.25 pm. It said Ansari complained of vomiting and fell unconscious, after which he was rushed to the local health facility for treatment.

“A team of nine doctors tended to Ansari, but he died because of cardiac arrest,” the bulletin said. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were imposed across Uttar Pradesh, police said. Vigil has been heightened at several places.

Ansari was elected MLA from Mau five times, twice from the BSP. He was born in Ghazipur and was a history-sheeter, with as many as 61 cases against him. He won his first MLA poll in 1996. Accused of extortion, Ansari was shifted out of Banda jail in UP and brought to Rupnagar jail, Punjab, in January 2019.

One of the cases against Ansari was of the murder of then sitting BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. Rai had defeated Ansari’s brother and five-time MLA, Afzal Ansari, from Mohammadabad in the 2002 UP assembly poll.

Rai’s wife Alka Rai had written to central Congress leaders at the time, alleging that the party’s government in the state was “aiding Ansari evade court appearances”.

Eventually, the noose on Ansari was tightened when Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister of UP in 2017. In April 2021, UP police took custody of Ansari and brought him back to Banda district jail where he was lodged. In April 2023, Ansari was convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Rai. He was sentenced to life in prison on March 13, 2024, in connection with a fake arms licence case.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party has condoled the demise of Ansari.