Mukhtar Ansari sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Gangsters Act case

The case under the Gangsters Act was registered against Ansari at the Karanda police station in 2010 following the murder of Kapildev Singh, a teacher, and an attempt on the life of Meer Hasan, a trader, both in 2009

Ghazipur/Lucknow (UP):An MP-MLA court in Ghazipur on Friday sentenced jailed mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to 10 years of imprisonment in a case registered under the Gangsters Act. Additional District and Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on him.

The case under the Gangsters Act was registered against Ansari at the Karanda police station in 2010 following the murder of Kapildev Singh, a teacher, and an attempt on the life of Meer Hasan, a trader, both in 2009. The court also sentenced Sonu Yadav, a member of Mukhtar Ansari's gang, to five years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on him, Additional District Government Counsel of Ghazipur Neeraj Srivastava said.

Srivastava told PTI in Ghazipur that the court had on Thursday pronounced Mukhtar Ansari guilty. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government in a statement said Ansari was produced in the court via video-conferencing from the Banda prison during the hearing of the case. In all, Ansari has been sentenced in six cases, it said.

Srivastava said that Kapildev Singh, a government school teacher and resident of Suapur village under the Karanda police station area, was killed by two motorcycle-borne assailants in 2009. In this case, Chandan Yadav and Radheyshyam Harijan were booked for murder, while a case was registered against Ansari under IPC section 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), he said.

About the Meer Hasan attempt to murder case, Srivastava said the trader was attacked by Sonu Yadav and another person, who also threatened to kill him if he did not meet Ansari in prison. Subsequently in 2010, a case under the Gangsters Act was registered against Ansari and Sonu Yadav, he added. Radheyshyam Harijan died during the investigation, while Chandan Yadav was acquitted, Srivastava said.

Ansari was a five-time MLA from the Mau assembly constituency. 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).