Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): The sleuths of Income Tax (IT) on Thursday, July 20, questioned jailed gangster and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari. The 60-year-old Ghazipur-born Ansari was interrogated inside the Banda jail, where he is currently lodged.
Sources said that a five-member Income Tax team, headed by an officer of Deputy Commissioner rank, quizzed Ansari about illegal properties during their five-hour-long interrogation. "We also asked Ansari about his absconding wife Afshan Ansari. He did not answer any of the questions properly. We were not satisfied with his replies," a source from the Income Tax said.
The Income Tax department is investigating about 23 illegal properties of Mukhtar Ansari and his family, which are worth the value of approximately Rs 125 crores. Recently, the department seized properties worth 20 crores of Ghazipur-based Mukhtar Ansari. The confiscated properties were bought in the name of Ganesh Dutt Mishra, a close aide of Ansari.
The IT officials had called Mishra for questioning, but he did not appear. After this, the Ghazipur police arrested Mishra on June 20 and handed him over to the Income Tax Department, who then questioned him for two days. The IT had sought permission from the MP MLA court to interrogate Mukhtar Ansari.
The Income Tax department has also sent notices to Afshan Ansari, but she too did not appear for questioning.
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