Gangster Mukhtar Ansari’s wife skips Income Tax summons in benami assets case

Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afsha Ansari on Tuesday failed to appear before the Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing for questioning.

She had been summoned to the department’s Lucknow office in connection with Ansari’s benami properties. I-T officials attached Ansari’s property in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur under the Prevention of Benami Properties Prevention Act (PBPPA) in May.

The attached plot in Ghazipur, worth over Rs 12 crore, was in the name of Ganesh Dutt Mishra – a close aide of Ansari. Investigations revealed that Mishra was a ‘benamidar’ (fictitious person), and the property actually belonged to Ansari.

“Most of these properties purchased as benami are suspected to be the proceeds of crime and corruption by Ansari. The process for attachment of all the properties has been started,” a senior official said.

Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afsa has been on the run for a while now. In April, the Uttar Pradesh Police issued a look-out notice to prevent her from fleeing the country. At the time, the police raided several places to find her.

Meanwhile, Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in UP’s Banda jail under the Gangster Act, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Awadhesh Rai murder case on Monday by a special court in Varanasi. Awadhesh Rai, the brother of Congress leader Ajay Rai, was shot dead outside his residence in Varanasi’s Lahurabir on August 3, 1991.