On run, wives of 3 UP gangster-politicians missed husbands’ funeral in a year

Not only Afsha Ansari, her elder son Abbas Ansari, who is lodged in a Kasganj jail, also could not attend Mukhtar’s funeral. An application was filed in the Allahabad High Court on Friday seeking permission for Abbas to attend his father’s funeral, but the petition could not be taken up.

While Atiq Ahmed’s wife Shaista Parveen carries a reward of Rs 50,000, no bounty has been announced yet for Ashraf’s wife Zainab Fatima. Law enforcement agencies have been conducting raids to apprehend these women who remain untraced.

The three were named as conspirators in the cases involving their late husbands and rewards were announced on the Afsha and Shaista after the police failed to track them down.
Mukhtar Ansari’s body was buried in his hometown Mohammadabad in Ghazipur district after it was brought from Banda in an ambulance.

His funeral was attended by his son Umar Ansari, brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, and other family members besides a large number of people. Heavy police deployment was made to maintain law and order in the area. The case against Afsha Ansari under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act was registered at Daksha Tola police station in Mau in 2021.

In April last year, the state police wrote to central agencies — the CBI and the Immigration Department — seeking issuance of a lookout notice against Afsha amid apprehensions that she may fly out of the country.

In 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case against a firm, Vikas Construction, run by Afsha, Mukhtar’s brothers-in-law Atif Raza and Anwar Shahzad and others.

The police are on the lookout for Shaista and Zainab Fatima in connection with the murder of Umesh Pal, a lawyer, and his two police bodyguards in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj area on February 24, 2023. Pal was a key witness in the murder case of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal in 2005, in which Atiq and Ashraf were prime accused. Though a reward of Rs 25,000 was declared on Shaista’s head initially, the police later increased the amount to Rs 50,000. The police had also demolished her house in the Chakia area of Prayagraj.

Last year, the police also demolished a house allegedly belonging to Atiq’s associate Jafar Ahmed, where Shaista allegedly stayed following the demolition of her residence. The police attached the house of Zainab Fatima in December last year after obtaining permission from the court.

The two women along with Atiq’s sister Ayesha Noori are accused on charges of conspiracy. Police also allege Shaista orchestrated the killing and facilitated the payment to the assailants.

In August last year, the Prayagraj police registered a fresh FIR against Shaista, Zainab Fatima and Atiq’s sister Ayesha Noori under Section 174-A (non-appearance in response to a proclamation under section 82 of Act 2 of 1974) of the Indian Penal Code.

Atiq and Ashraf were gunned down by three assailants at the entrance of a hospital on April 15 last year while being taken by police for medical examination.