LUCKNOW: Ghazipur police on Tuesday registered an FIR against Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari, the elder brother of late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, after a file related to the purchase and sale of a firearm on his licence allegedly went missing. The case is the fifth FIR against members of the Mukhtar Ansari gang and the third against Afzal Ansari within a week.
The first criminal case in the arms licence matter was registered on July 22 against Afzal Ansari, two former district arms clerks and others following a police probe into arms licences linked to the IS-191 gang of late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.
The case was lodged after allegedly uncovering the missing official records, irregularities in weapon transactions and an untraceable rifle purchased on the MP’s licence.
According to Ghazipur SP Iraj Raja, a third FIR was registered against Afzal Ansari after the original file and records related to the purchase and sale of a firearm under his arms licence (No. 1188/P-11) were found missing from the record room.
During the probe into alleged irregularities in arms licence records, police found that an NPB rifle (No. 44667) had been purchased and later sold in Arunachal Pradesh's Along district decades ago using Afzal Ansari's arms licence. However, the original file related to the transaction was missing, and the current status of the weapon could not be ascertained.
Police alleged that the records were deliberately made to disappear in collusion with the arms clerks concerned. Based on the investigation, an FIR was registered at Kotwali police station in Ghazipur against Afzal Ansari, former arms clerk Gaurishankar Lal and another arms clerk, Sugriv Tiwari, under charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.
Ghazipur SP Iraj Raja said this was the third FIR against Afzal Ansari since July 22 and the fifth against members of the Mukhtar Ansari gang. He added that the investigation into the remaining arms licences was continuing.
Police sources said the action is part of a verification drive ordered by Varanasi Range DIG Vaibhav Krishna, under which authorities are physically verifying 51 arms licences issued to people linked to the IS-191 gang, including Mukhtar Ansari, his family members and associates, as well as 145 firearms purchased or sold on those licences.
Separate teams led by the Additional SP (City and Rural) have been formed to carry out the exercise as part of the ongoing crackdown on organised crime and mafia networks.