Mau: BSP leader and MLA from Uttar Pradesh's Mau, Mukhtar Ansari, who was in jail in a 2011 murder case, was on Wednesday granted bail by a court on Wednesday.
The court has ordered immediate release of Ansari jailed in a case relating to a case registered in the Dakshin Tola police station in 2011, on a surety of one lakh rupees. A murder took place in Mau in which Mukhtar Ansari was made an accused under the Gangster Act.
According to Mukhtar's lawyer Daroga Singh, the court said that the Gangster Act carries a sentence of only 10 years saying Mukhtar is in jail for more than 10 years. While Mukhtar has been released in the 2011 murder case, there are many more cases registered against him due to which he is likely to face more jail term. Mukhtar Ansari is lodged in jail for the last 14 years with more than 40 cases registered against him for several crimes like murder, kidnapping and extortion even as he has not only managed to win elections, but also runs his gang.
In 2005, Mukhtar was accused of inciting violence in Mau. Along with this, Ansari is also accused of killing BJP leader Krishnanand Rai, along with seven aides, while languishing in jail. With Mukhtar's election prospects looking bleak, his son Abbas has filed a nomination from Mau, which will go to polls in the seventh and last phase of the ongoing UP Assemly polls on March 7.
Ansari was born in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh and has inherited politics. His grandfather Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was the President of All India Congress Committee. His father was a Communist leader.
While studying in college itself, Mukhtar chose a different path for himself. As he started his gang in the 90s. In the 1970s, when the government started schemes for the development of Purvanchal, by the 90s, Mukhtar allegedly formed his gang to grab the lands.
Mafia Brajesh Singh emerged as the biggest challenge for him giving rise to a gang war between the two. In 1988, Mukhtar's name appeared in a murder case for the first time, but the police could not find any solid evidence against him. In the 1990s, Mukhtar Ansari had entered the world of crime related to land business and contracts.
In an image makeover bid, Mukhtar entered politics. In the year 1995, Mukhtar joined the mainstream of politics. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1996.
Since then, after getting political patronage, he started giving sleepless nights to Brajesh Singh. In early 2000s, Mukhtar's convoy was attacked leading to the killing of three of Mukhtar's men in the attack. Reports said that Brajesh Singh was injured in this attack with rumours also spreading about his death
After the attack, Ansari emerged as the dominant gang leader in Purvanchal. But, after a few days, Brajesh Singh was confirmed to be alive in the gang war thereby renewing the conflict. Brajesh Singh later joined BJP's leader Krishnanand Rai and also supported his election campaign with Rai going on to defeat Mukhtar Ansari's brother and five-time MLA Afzal Ansari from Mohammadabad in the 2002 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. Mukhtar alleged that Krishnanand Rai used his political office to get government contracts to Brajesh Singh's gang and planned to eliminate them.
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