MAU: An MP-MLA Court here on Wednesday granted bail to mafia turned politician Mukhtar Ansari in a murder case but he is unlikely to be released as other cases are pending against him.
Special Judge Dinesh Kumar Chaurasia allowed the bail to Ansari, who is lodged in Banda jail, on a surety of Rs 1 lakh.
The case in which he got the relief was lodged at Dakshin Tola police station in Mau in 2011 for the murder of a witness and a police gunner.
Ansari was named as accused in the case and was slapped with the stringent Gangster Act.
According to his lawyer Daroga Singh, the court while granting bail observed that Gangster Act carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and Ansari has been in jail for more than this period.
After the court's decision, there was speculation about Ansari's release, but the Mau police said he had other cases pending against him, so his release is unlikely.
The police, in a press statement, said, "Mukhtar Ansari is currently in jail. He has in all 12 cases including five in Mau, four cases in Ghazipur district, one each in Varanasi, Barabanki and Azamgarh districts."
As the majority of the cases against Ansari are still under trial, it will be difficult for him to come out of jail anytime soon, a senior police official said.
Ansari's son Abbas Ansari on Monday filed his nomination papers from Mau Sadar Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh as a candidate of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, an ally of the Samajwadi Party.
Mukhtar Ansari has represented the seat since 1996.
"As the administration was creating hurdles in filing my father's nomination papers, I have filed the nomination today," Abbas Ansari had said.
Mau will go to polls in the seventh and last phase on March 7.