Mukhtar Ansari gets 10-year jail in 2010 Gangsters Act case

This is the sixth case in which Ansari, who is lodged in the Banda district jail, has been convicted — all in the past one year. He has a total of 65 cases against him, including that of murder and attempt to murder.

The court also sentenced Mukhtar’s associate Sonu Yadav to five years in prison in the 2010 case that was registered under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act by clubbing the 2009 murder case of one Kapil Dev Singh and an FIR of attempt to murder on one Meer Hasan.

“Ansari appeared before the court through video-conferencing on Friday. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on him. Rs 2 lakh penalty was imposed on Sonu Yadav,” said government counsel, Ghazipur, Neeraj Srivastava.

Sonu, who earlier was out on bail, was brought to the court from the Ghazipur district jail where he was lodged since Thursday since he was taken into custody after his conviction.

In June this year, a Varanasi court had sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of Awadhesh Rai, 30, a businessman, outside his house in the city’s Maldahiya locality in 1991. Awadhesh was the elder brother of current Congress state president Ajay Rai.

On April 29, Ansari was sentenced to four-year jail under the Gangsters Act along with his elder brother Afzal. Earlier, on September 21, 2022, the Allahabad High Court had sentenced him to seven years in prison in a 2003 case of assault on a jailer. A day later, the HC had sentenced him to five years in jail in a 1999 case under the Gangsters Act. Then on December 15, a Ghazipur district court sentenced Mukhtar and his alleged associate Bheem Singh to 10-year imprisonment in a 1996 case under the Gangsters Act.