Mukhtar Ansari, the jailed gangster-turned-politician, died of a cardiac arrest.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Banda latest on Thursday, following which, the Uttar Pradesh Police issued prohibitory orders across the state. Ansari (63), a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar, had been behind bars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005. He had over 60 criminal cases pending against him.
He was sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts in Uttar Pradesh and was lodged in the Banda jail. His name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police last year.
Mukhtar Ansari was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in “an unconscious state” at nearly 8.25 pm on Thursday, a medical bulletin stated. He complained of vomiting and was attended to by a team of nine doctors. He died at the hospital following cardiac arrest. Earlier, Ansari was hospitalised for around 14 hours on Tuesday after he complained of abdominal pain.
Officials at the police headquarters in Lucknow said Ansari’s post-mortem will be done in Banda on Friday, and it will be videographed. The viscera will be preserved if needed, they said. Meanwhile, preparations were underway for his cremation at the Mohhamadabad burial ground.
A magisterial investigation, into the death of Mukhtar Ansari, will be conducted by a three-member team, news agency ANI reported. This comes after Ansari’s brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, and Ansri’s son alleged he was being subjected to “slow poisoning” in jail, a charge denied by the authorities. Ansari’s son, Umar Ansari, also said his family would move to the judiciary.
A high alert was sounded in Uttar Pradesh, and large gatherings were banned as Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was also imposed across Uttar Pradesh. The state police deployed additional security personnel in the Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi districts. The social media cell of the Uttar Pradesh Police has also been activated to keep a close watch on unlawful elements online, the police chief told news agency PTI.
Several political leaders condoled Ansari’s demise and questioned the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government about the allegations surrounding the MLA’s death. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said despite serious allegations over the former MLA being poisoned, the state government did not pay attention to his treatment.
In social media posts, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav and the Samajwadi Party said Ansari’s allegations of being poisoned at the Banda jail “were not taken seriously”
Former Bihar MP Pappu Yadav, who joined the Congress recently, termed Ansari’s death an “institutional murder” and demanded a court-monitored probe into it.