UP court convicts gangster Ansari, MP brother in MLA murder case

Ghazipur (UP), April 29

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A court here on Saturday sentenced gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari to imprisonment for 10 years and four years, respectively, in a kidnapping and murder case pertaining to the killing of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Mukhtar and Rs 1 lakh on Afzal. Afzal, BSP MP from Ghazipur, was produced in the court, while Mukhtar attended the proceedings via videoconferencing. The verdict could lead to Afzal losing his Lok Sabha membership. On November 22, 2007, a case was filed under the Gangsters Act against the Ansari brothers at the Muhammadabad Kotwali police station. The duo was booked under the UP Gangsters Act in connection with the murder of the then BJP MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanand Rai on November 29, 2005, along with the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997. On 23 September 2022, prima facie charges were framed against the two.

After the court’s verdict, Rai’s nephew Anand Rai expressed his gratitude to the court as well as CM Yogi Adityanath. Mukhtar is presently lodged in Banda jail. He had been an MLA for five consecutive terms from Mau Sadar in Mau district of UP.

The gangster-politician did not contest the 2022 assembly elections and his seat was won by his son Abbas Ansari from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).