Lucknow: Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was acquitted on Wednesday in a 13-year-old attempt to murder case registered at Ghazipur’s Mohammadabad police station.
Ansari was charged with criminal conspiracy in the case, which pertains to the alleged attempt to murder on Mir Hasan, a resident of Mohammadabad. In November 2009, two men allegedly shot Mir Hasan and later threatened him to meet Ansari in jail.
However, the acquittal has brought some relief to the gangster, who has been lodged in UP’s Banda jail since 2015.
He has been convicted in four cases since September 2022.
On September 21 last year, Mukhtar was convicted by the Allahabad High Court in connection with allegations of assaulting a jailer in 2003. However, this was rejected by the Supreme Court on appeal this January. The apex court said that the High Court’s judgment does not establish that the trial court’s acquittal of Ansari in the case was wrong in law.
On 22 September, Ansari was convicted in a case registered in Lucknow in 1999 under the draconian Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act – or the Gangster Act -.
Then, a Ghazipur court convicted Mukhtar Ansari and aide Bhim Singh in a 1996 Gangster Act case. On 29 April, he Sentenced 10 years imprisonment by an MP/MLA court in Ghazipur in a gangster act case registered against him in 2007.
A case was registered against him and his politician brother Afzal Ansari on the basis of riots in the city following the brutal murder of MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005 and the 1997 kidnapping and murder of coal baron Nand Kishore Rungta, among others. ,
Rungta was also an office bearer of the Varanasi VHP unit.
Read also: Gangsters Act: Controversial law behind Yogi government’s crackdown on dons like Mukhtar Ansari
mir hassan case
Talking to media persons, public prosecutor Neeraj Srivastava said that the Mir Hasan case dates back to 24 November 2009.
“In that case, a charge sheet was filed against Mukhtar under IPC 120-B (criminal conspiracy). In 2010, the main accused in the case, Sonu Yadav, who is said to have fired at Hasan, was acquitted in the case. Till then charges against Mukhtar were not framed.”
Srivastava said the court observed that the main accused in the case had been acquitted, and acquitted Mukhtar on the same grounds, giving him the benefit of doubt.
Mukhtar’s lawyer Liaquat Ali told the media that the FIR was registered against unknown people and Mukhtar was not named in it initially.
“Mir Hasan, a resident of Mohd., had lodged an FIR alleging fatal attack on his life. He was the complainant in the case and registered a case under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) against unknown persons.
“Mukhtar Ansari was in jail since October 25, 2005, while the incident is said to be of 2009. He was made an accused in the case even while in jail. He was not named in the FIR, but was later (during investigation) accused under 120-B (criminal conspiracy). Today, the court acquitted him of conspiracy charges,” he said.
Srivastava confirmed that Mukhtar would not be coming out of jail just yet.
Another decision later this week
On May 20, another verdict is to be pronounced against Mukhtar Ansari in the Gangster Act case.
The case was registered against him after a gang chart was prepared on the basis of 2009. kapil dev singh murder case and the Mir Hasan case (a set of cases included in the Gangster Act proceedings).
Asked about the upcoming verdict, Ali said, “The verdict in that case is pending, so I cannot comment before that.”
“On behalf of the defence, we have submitted that the case against my client is not made out and he be released from jail.”
(Editing by Sunanda Ranjan)