Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of cardiac arrest at the Banda Medical College in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, shortly after being hospitalised. Days before his death, Ansari had alleged that he was served food laced with poison inside the prison.
In an application filed through his lawyer, Ansari had said, "I was given food laced with poisonous substance on the night of March 19, following which my health deteriorated. I am afraid I may not survive. I am going to choke."
Requesting the court for a team of doctors for Ansari's proper treatment, his lawyer had said that Ansari's health was completely fine before the incident.
Ansari alleged that he was given food laced with poison 40 days ago as well. He said that the staff who used to taste his food before giving it to him also fell sick as the food was laced with poison.
Last Thursday, Mukhtar Ansari was produced before Judge Kamalkant Srivastava in MP MLA Court through video conferencing from Banda Jail. Ansari did not appear for the virtual hearing hearing before the court as his lawyer confirmed that he was ill.
Ansari was elected as an MLA from the Mau constituency five times, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last contested the Assembly polls in 2017. Mukhtar Ansari has around 60 cases pending against him in UP, Punjab, New Delhi and other states.
Earlier on March 13, Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment in a case related to the use of forged documents for obtaining an arms licence in 1990. This was the eighth case in which the former five-time MLA has been convicted and sentenced by a court in UP in the past two years.
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