Mukhtar Ansari, jailed mafia don-turned-politician, sentenced to life imprisonment
Mukhtar Ansari
A court in northern India's Varanasi sentenced jailed mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to life imprisonment for cheating, forgery of documents, criminal conspiracy, and violating the Arms Act to obtain a double-barrel gun license in 1986. This marks his eighth conviction since September 2022.
The Special Judge (MP/MLA) Avnish Gautam found Ansari guilty under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468, 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 30 of the Arms Act.
Ansari, however, was acquitted under section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The five-time Uttar Pradesh Member of the Legislative Assembly appeared via videoconferencing from Banda jail, about 200 km south of the state capital Lucknow.
Also watch |Indian gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother shot dead by assailants in Prayagraj, UP
Ansari has been convicted of having obtained a double-barrel gun license in 1986 by forging the signatures of the then-Ghazipur district magistrate and superintendent of police.
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A case in the matter was first lodged in 1990 which was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI chargesheet named Ansari and the then arms clerk, Gauri Shankar Lal, for charges including a Prevention of Corruption Act section.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 10 witnesses, including the former district magistrate and superintendent of police, former officials, CBI officers, and forensic experts.
Mukhtar Ansari: Cases and convictions
Mukhtar Ansari faces nearly five dozen criminal cases.
In December last year, he was sentenced to five-and-a-half years of imprisonment in a case related to threatening a witness in VHP treasurer’s kidnapping case in 1997.
Also read |Indian mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari jailed for 10 years in 2007 Gangster Act case
In April 2023, he was awarded 10 years in jail in a Gangsters Act case while his brother and co-accused, Afzal Ansari, was also given four-year imprisonment after which he lost his Lok Sabha membership.
Later, the Supreme Court suspended Afzal’s sentence, allowing him to return to Parliament.
In September 2022, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court sentenced Mukhtar to seven years in jail for threatening a jailer and pointing a pistol at him.
(With inputs from agencies)