With the dramatic killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, the spotlight of the Uttar Pradesh police campaign against crime syndicates is now on jailed politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is credited with having an extensive criminal network that extended beyond the state.
Ansari has been in jail since 2005 but his writ continues to run in districts across UP. He had been in Banda jail in 2019 when an extortion call made to a Mohali businessman was traced to him, and he was brought to Punjab. He was lodged in Rupnagar (formerly Ropar) jail in Punjab from January 2019 till April 2021, when he was shifted to UP amid high drama after efforts made by the Yogi Adityanath government. With more than 60 cases against him, Ansari has been a five-time MLA with his support being sought by political parties on many occasions. His wife is on the most wanted list of the UP police.
As with most criminals, he had started his career in crime by grabbing government contracts in his home town Ghazipur, and by threatening or getting his rival bidders eliminated. The first such case where his name emerged was in 1988, and by 1990, when a rival gangster Brajesh Singh started capturing government contracts, it was the beginning of a bloody rivalry that has lasted for decades. He started gaining control over government construction contracts, coal transport, liquor bids, scrap dealing, extortion and land grabbing for which his name figured in many cases of attack on police officials and rival contractors. In 1996, he became an MLA from BSP and in 1997 his name figured in the kidnapping of a coal merchant. The period up to 2005 saw him gaining strength as a gang leader and politician. He was again elected as an MLA in 2002 and 2007 (both times as an Independent), in 2012 from his own party Qaumi Ekta Dal and then in 2017 from BSP, which he had re-joined.
MLA’s murder
The most sensational case in which his name figured was the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in November 2005 when he was in jail. The killers fired more than 600 rounds to kill Rai and six others in Ghazipur. Many eyewitnesses in this case also died under mysterious circumstances and Rai’s murder was not properly investigated because of political pressure.
Ansari's illustrious family background did not deter him from building an empire of crime and rising to become the most powerful gang leader in the state since the 1990s. He comes from a family of eminent persons including freedom fighters, academicians and decorated defence officers.
His paternal grandfather Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was a freedom fighter, president of the Indian National Congress and founder-Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia University.
His maternal grandfather was Brigadier Muhammad Usman, a war hero in war with Pakistan in 1948 who was awarded the Mahavir Chakra posthumously.
Among his cousins is the former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari. Interestingly, Mukhtar Ansari had mentioned the names of these family members in his plea to the Supreme Court in 2021 in which he opposed his being shifted to a jail in UP, alleging that there was a threat to his life there.
Mukhtar’s two brothers are also politicians -- Afzal Ansari is the current MP from Ghazipur where he defeated BJP’s Manoj Sinha in 2019; while Sibgatullah Ansari was MLA from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur twice -- 2007-2012 and 2012-2017.
Mukhtar has two sons -- Abbas Ansari, current MLA from Mau from Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), and Umar Ansari, and both are sports shooters.
Abbas Ansari is in Kasganj jail in connection with a money-laundering case lodged against him by the ED. He also faces a case pertaining to a speech by him during the 2022 Assembly election campaign, wherein he had threatened government officials. Interestingly, Abbas Ansari was lodged in Chitrakoot jail but was shifted to Kasganj following reports that Chitrakoot jail officials had connived to allow regular visits by Abbas Ansari’s wife. Umar Ansari faces a case of acquiring enemy property in a Lucknow locality by fraudulent means and his anticipatory bail appeal has been rejected.
A veteran journalist in Varanasi recalls that Mukhtar Ansari himself was a shooter and his favourite pastime used to be shooting pigeons released in the night sky. A web series named Raktanchal released in 2020 portraying the gang rivalry between two contractors-turned gangsters appears inspired by the rivalry between Mukhtar Ansari and Brajesh Singh.
DSP hounded
Another interesting character in the Mukhtar Ansari saga is Shailendra Singh, a police officer who invoked the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against Ansari in 2004. He was heading the Special Task Force (STF) unit in Varanasi when, in January 2004, he recovered a light machine gun (LMG) and 200 cartridges and arrested two persons, including a gunner of Mukhtar Ansari. A case under relevant sections of POTA was registered against Mukhtar Ansari. However, there was great pressure on him by the then Samajwadi Party government to change the FIR or remove Mukhtar Ansari’s name from the case. Shailendra Singh preferred to resign rather than give in. Sometime later, the then government also lodged a case of vandalism against him.
This case was withdrawn in 2021 by the Yogi government. Shailendra Singh dabbled in politics for some time and also contested the Lok Sabha election in 2009 and Assembly election in 2012 as a Congress candidate but lost. In 2014, he joined the BJP. He is now engaged in organic farming and bringing in innovations in conventional farming. In a recent interview, he claimed criminal activities of Mukhtar Ansari’s gang were still continuing and said sustained efforts were required to smash the gang.
Favours in Punjab
Mukhtar hit the headlines in 2021 when the then Congress government in Punjab went to great lengths to stall his being shifted to UP claiming that his life was under threat in UP. It was only after the Supreme Court issued a directive to Punjab that Ansari was shifted to Banda jail in UP.
Ansari was getting special comforts in Punjab jail and did not apply for bail even after staying in jail for over two years. Bhagwant Mann, the present Chief Minister heading the AAP government in Punjab, has now claimed that his government will not foot the legal fee running into lakhs of rupees raised by the earlier state government's defence of Mukhtar’s continued stay in Ropar jail. Mann says he will recover the money from those former ministers responsible for this expenditure.
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Among the cases Ansari faces are those pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, using forged documents, criminal intimidation, obstructing a government servant from doing duty and instigating riots. He is also alleged to have policemen on his payroll because of which his criminal empire operated smoothly despite him being in jail.
The BSP leader Mayawati had once in 2009 described him as some kind of 'Robin Hood' who helped the poor. Journalists and police officers who have seen or met him in Varanasi, Ghazipur and Mau recall him as being very sophisticated and well-spoken. His wife Afsha Ansari has now been declared as absconding by the UP police with a lookout notice against her, and a cash reward of Rs 25,000 has been announced for any information leading to her arrest.
Now, with few friends and no political party ready to back him, Mukhtar Ansari faces a long time in jail as the crackdown against his criminal empire, accomplices, wife and sons continues.
(Ratan Mani Lal is a senior journalist based in Uttar Pradesh.)