Properties owned by BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s wife under scanner: Officials

Ghazipur, July 5

District authorities here have demolished a godown, part-owned by don-turned-BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s wife and rented out to the Food Corporation of India, saying it was built on illegally acquired land.

The administration has also issued a notice to Ansari’s wife Afsa Begum over irregularities involving a hotel owned by her and the couple’s children, officials said on Sunday.

Afsa Begum and her business partners had fudged records to get themselves registered as owners of a pond in Fatehpur village, District Magistrate Om Prakash Arya said.

The godown was built in place of a pond on five bighas of land by M/s Vikas Construction in which Ansari’s wife Afsa Begum and his brother-in-law Aatif Raja are partners, said Arya.

The three other partners in the firm are Zakir Hussain, Ravindra Narayan Singh and Anwar Shahzada, said Arya.

The godown was demolished on Saturday along with its boundary wall and the administration has initiated action in the matter, he added.

Meanwhile, Ghazipur Sub Divisional Magistrate Prabhas Kumar said the district administration has also issued a notice to the owners of Gajal Hotel built in Mahubagh locality of the city over some irregularities involving it.

The hotel is owned by Afsa Begum and her sons Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari, added Kumar.

“Several shortcomings have been found in the hotel, and a notice has been issued to its owners,” he said.

Mukhtar Ansari is a sitting BSP MLA from Mau assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh. PTI