UP court sentences Ansari brothers in Gangsters Act case, Afzaal stands to lose MP status
LUCKNOW: The Ghazipur MP/MLA court on Saturday convicted Afzaal Ansari and his younger brother Mukhtar Ansari in two separate cases.
The court handed out 10-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh to Mukhtar. Afzaal was sentenced to four years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
According to a senior police officer, a case under the Gangsters Act was registered against Mukhtar after the sensational killing of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. A similar case was also registered against Afzaal for his alleged involvement in the BJP MLA's murder. Both cases were registered in the Mohammadabad police station of Ghazipur district.
Afzaal Ansari, currently the BSP MP representing the Ghazipur constituency, stands to lose his lower house membership following his conviction and sentencing by the court under the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act.
According to a Supreme Court order of 2013, the membership of an MP/MLA is annulled if the person is convicted and sentenced to two years or more.
Mukhtar, a five-time MLA, is already lodged in Banda jail. He has allegedly over 60 criminal cases against him.
During the hearing on Saturday, Mukhtar Ansari appeared before the court through video conference. Afzaal was present in person, said government counsel, Ghazipur, Neeraj Srivastava.
Immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict, Afzaal was taken into custody and was sent to Ghazipur jail in compliance with the court order. However, his lawyers said that they would file an appeal in the higher court to challenge the MP/MLA court order.
This is the first case in which Afzaal Ansari has been convicted. He has seven criminal cases registered against him. However, it was Mukhtar Ansari’s fourth conviction in different cases since September 2022.
On September 21, last year, the Allahabad High Court sentenced Mukhtar Ansari to seven years imprisonment in a 2003 case of assaulting a jailer in Lucknow. A day later, the High Court, in another case dating back to 1999, sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
On December 15, last year, Ghazipur MP/MLA court convicted Mukhtar Ansari under Uttar Pradesh Gangster Act and sentenced him to 10 years in jail along with his accomplice Bheem Singh in connection with another case under Gangster Act dating back to 1999.
Mukhtar’s wife Afshan, is absconding and carries a reward of Rs 50,000. She faces seven cases. Their elder son and SBSP MLA Abbas Ansari has eight cases while another son Umar Ansari has five cases registered against him.
Krishnanad Rai, the then BJP MLA from Mohammadabad, was gunned down in Ghazipur in 2005 allegedly by Mukhtar Ansari and his accomplices who had fired "over 400 bullets" on the lawmaker in an ambush on his convoy.
While reacting to the conviction of Ansari brothers, Alka Rai, widow of Krishnanand Rai said, "I believe in the judiciary. Rule of Goondas, Mafias has ended (in the state)."
Welcoming the judgement, Piyush Rai, son of Krishnanand Rai, said that conviction of Mukhtar reaffirmed his faith in the Indian judicial system. He said they were disillusioned by the acquittal of Mukhtar Ansari in his father’s murder case of 2005 by CBI court but now the conviction had reaffirmed the faith in the judiciary.
The Krishnanand Rai murder case is in Delhi High Court after Ansari was acquitted by a CBI court in Delhi as key witnesses turned either hostile or were eliminated by the gangster.