Ex-MLA Mukhtar Ansari gets life term for 1991 murder

New Delhi, June 5

Almost 32 years after the murder of a Congress leader’s brother, a Varanasi court on Monday held gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari guilty of the crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Awadhesh Rai, the brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, was shot dead on August 3, 1991, at the gate of his Lahurabir residence in Varanasi. An FIR was registered against Mukhtar Ansari and others.

The MP-MLA court’s special judge Avanish Gautam awarded life sentence to Ansari in the case. “This is the end of our many years of waiting. I, my parents, Awadhesh’s daughter and the whole family kept patience… Governments came and went and Mukhtar strengthened himself. But we did not give up,” Ajay Rai told the media. A five-time MLA from Mau Sadar seat, Mukhtar Ansari did not contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election and the seat was won by his son Abbas Ansari on a ticket from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which was in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.