SC suspends conviction of former BSP MP Afzal Ansari in 2007 Gangsters Act case, on conditions

On October 31 this year, the court had reserved its verdict on Ansari’s plea seeking the suspension of his conviction in the case. The Allahabad High Court on July 24 had refused to suspend the conviction but granted bail to Ansari in the case, according to the news agency.

In May 2023, Ansari, the elder brother of jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act case from 2007, by a special Ghazipur court.

On November 29, 2005, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Krishnanand Rai was murdered in Ghazipur along with six associates. The Ghazipur police, in 2007, lodged the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act cases against Mukhtar and his brother Afzal Ansari, on grounds of murder of Rai and six others, and the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997. Following the charges, Afzal Ansari was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha.

Contesting from a Samajwadi Party ticket, the younger Ansari had lost to BJP’s Rai in the 2002 Assembly elections by 7,772 votes.

(- with inputs from PTI)