Banda (UP): The superintendent of Banda jail, where gangster-politician Mukhtar Anasari was lodged before he died last week, received a death threat on his phone, police said on Monday. Ansari, a five-time MLA, was lodged in the Banda divisional jail. When his health deteriorated on Thursday, he was sent to a government hospital, where he later died.
According to police, an unidentified man made a threat call on the jail superintendent's phone within hours of Ansari's death. Banda Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Lakshmi Niwas Mishra told PTI that a case has been registered on the matter and the security of Senior Superintendent of Banda jail, Viresh Raj Sharma, has also been stepped up.
In his complaint, Sharma said on the intervening night of March 28 and March 29, an unknown person made a phone call from a land line number on his government (CUG) mobile phone and threatened to kill him. Ansari, 63, died around 10.30 pm on march 28 at Rani Durgawati Medical College after being taken there from Banda jail when his health deteriorated.
A post-mortem confirmed that he died of cardiac arrest. However, a magisterial inquiry was ordered as opposition parties raised questions over Ansari's death, amid allegations by his family that he died due to "slow poisoning" in Banda jail. He was laid to rest in Ghazipur on Saturday amid a blanket of security as a large crowd took part in the funeral procession.
