HC stays arrest of Mukhtar Ansari's brothers-in-law in land grabbing case

A bench of justices Manoj Misra and S K Pachori gave the partial relief to Ansari's brothers-in-law Anwar Shahzad and Sarjil Raza on a petition by them seeking quashing of the case against them.
Allahabad High Court (File photo| EPS)
Allahabad High Court (File photo| EPS)

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad High court on Tuesday refused to halt a probe into a Gangster Act case against two brothers-in-law of mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari but stayed their arrest in the case.

A bench of justices Manoj Misra and S K Pachori gave the partial relief to Ansari's brothers-in-law Anwar Shahzad and Sarjil Raza on a petition by them seeking quashing of the case against them.

The bench stayed the duo's arrest in the Gangster Act case registered against them in a Ghazipur police station for their alleged involvement in a land grabbing case.

It said the two had not been named in the original FIR but their names were added to it after the filing of an additional charge-sheet in the case.

Moreover, the person named in the original FIR was not declared in the first charge-sheet as member of any gang formed to misappropriate land and acquire movable and immovable property through benami transactions.

"Considering the fact that in the two cases cited against the petitioners, they were not named in the First Information Report and their names were added through supplementary charge-sheet," the bench said.

"The person who was charge-sheeted earlier is not stated to be a gang member in the impugned FIR and that the petitioners have been granted bail in those cases," the bench added.

The bench, however, refused to stay the probe into the case saying the veracity of the charges against them has to ascertained after a thorough investigation.

"The allegations are in respect of constituting a gang for grabbing land and acquiring movable and immovable property through benami transactions and the matter would require investigation. So the prayer of the petitioners to quash the first information report cannot be accepted," the bench said.

The duo had contented in their petition that they were falsely implicated in two land grabbing cases in 2019 after which an FIR was registered on September 11, 2020 against them under Section 2/3(1) of the UP Gangsters and Anti-social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 at Kotwali police station of Ghazipur.

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