LUCKNOW: The jailed mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari suffered heart attack when his wife Afsa Ansari was visiting him on Tuesday morning. Lodged at a jail in Banda, around 200 km from state capital Luknow, the BSP MLA from Mau Sadar was rushed to the trauma centre of district hospital soon after his health deteriorated. Even wife Afsa of the 58-year-old politicians got into the shock and complained of chest. Both slumped to the ground and were taken to the hospital in ambulance.
As Ansari along with wife reached hospital at 12:40 pm and admitted to trauma centre, after a treatment of two hours when his condition did not improve, he was referred to Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow for better care. Both Ansari and his wife were brought to Lucknow in two separate ambulances. They could not be provided with the air ambulance due to inclement weather conditions.
Taking note of the incident, CM Yogi Adityanath assured that the MLA would be given best treatment and that he wished him a quick recovery. Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar said that a joint report was sought from prison officials and DM and an inquiry was ordered into the circumstance in which Mukhtar got heart attack. However, the sources layer claimed that Mukhtar had suffered a minor heart stroke while his wife collapsed due to extreme anxiety after seeing her husband collapse on the ground.
Meanwhile kin of the mafia don, who is facing 18 court cases related to murder, extortion, abduction and other crimes, said that they were waiting for the two to recuperate completely.
Mukhtar’s representative Shahid Zafari told the media persons that MLA’s wife along with two sons had gone to meet him. “Around 11am they entered the jail and were with Mukhtar. Green tea was presented to them. As they were having the tea, the health of the couple started deteriorating. Also it took eight hours for authorities to rush Ansari to Lucknow for specialized treatment.”
Lodged in Lucknow jail in the Samajwadi Party regime, Ansari was shifted to Banda when Yogi Adityanath government took over in March, 2017. He had issued statement on being shifted from Lucknow that some people were hatching a conspiracy to kill him.
Banda prison superintendent Sewaram Chaudhary was not present at Banda when the incident took place. Nodal officer of an upcoming jail at Chitrakoot, Sewaram had gone to the under-construction jail for inspection and rushed to district hospital on being informed about the health condition of Mukhtar who also had tissues like diabetes and hypertension.
Around 7 pm Mukhtar and his elaborate entourage reached SGPGI where he was immediately rushed to MICU under the observation of heart specialist Dr PK Goyal. His wife was also admitted to SGPGI in a different ward. Congress MLA Aradhna Mishra was among the first ones who reached the hospital to meet the couple.
Mukhtar Anasari is the BSP MLA from Mau assembly constituency. He had merged his Qaumi Ekta Dal just ahead of 2017 UP Assembly elections. He won from the Mau Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh a record five times. Mukhtar Ansari has been in jail since 2015 for a number of crimes.
In June, 2016, Ansari had announced QED’s merger with Samajwadi Party in presence of Shivpal Yadav, the then state unit president of the party. However, the move was soon cancelled after a vehement opposition by Akhilesh Yadav. This triggered a major feud between Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal, culminating in a split in the party before they got back just in nick of time for the assembly polls.
According to ADG (Law and Order), Anand Kumar, the police administration would go through the findings of the doctors who attended to the couple.