A Banda Court Instructs Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate to Probe Former BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s Death, Requires Report in 30 Days
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Uttar Pradesh: A Banda court has issued an instruction to an additional chief judicial magistrate (CJM) to conduct a thorough investigation into the demise of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA, Mukhtar Ansari. The directive from the court demands that a comprehensive report be submitted within a month.
Mukhtar Ansari, whose political career was as tumultuous as it was notable, succumbed to what is believed to have been a cardiac arrest last evening at the Rani Durgavati Medical College, located in Banda, Uttar Pradesh.
The events leading to his demise unfolded when he was reportedly rushed to the hospital around 8:45 PM. This emergency action came after he lost consciousness while being detained in the Banda district jail-a confinement resulting from his conviction in a myriad of criminal activities.
The legal battles Ansari faced were numerous and varied. Notably, on March 13 of the current year, a special court in Varanasi handed down a life sentence to Ansari in a case involving the acquisition of fake arms licenses. His criminal record did not end there; it included convictions in a kidnapping case, a case under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act dated back to 1999, the murder of Awadhesh Rai (who was the brother of a Congress leader) in 1991, and a 2003 case where he was found guilty of threatening a jailer by brandishing a pistol at him.
Adding a layer of intrigue to his already controversial incarceration, on March 21, Ansari purportedly wrote a letter to the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Mau. In this letter, he made a startling allegation against the jail authorities in Banda, claiming that they were poisoning him. This accusation, whether founded or not, adds a significant dimension to the investigation into his untimely death, underscoring the complex and often dangerous intersection of politics and criminal justice in India.
BACKGROUND
On Thursday (March 21), Mukhtar Ansari, a gangster and former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA politician, raised serious allegations regarding his health condition inside the prison. Ansari claims that his health is deteriorating after an incident where he was allegedly served poisoned food within the jail premises.
The incident occurred during a court session in Barabanki district, where Ansari was due to attend a hearing related to a case of fraudulent ambulance registration. The ambulance in question was reportedly used to transport him from a jail to a court in Punjab. However, Ansari, citing his deteriorated health, failed to make a physical appearance.
Through an application presented by his legal representative, Randhir Singh Suman, Ansari conveyed his alarming experience, stating that on the evening of March 19, he was subjected to food contamination with a toxic substance, which led to a significant decline in his health.
In an application filed through his lawyer, Randhir Singh Suman, he said-
“On the night of March 19, my food was laced with poisonous substances, following which my health has deteriorated. I feel like I’m going to choke.”
The lawyer said Ansari’s health was “completely fine” before this incident, and therefore, he has requested the court form a team of doctors for his proper treatment.
Further intensifying the concern, Ansari also mentioned a similar poisoning attempt made against him about 40 days prior to the recent occurrence.
During the court proceedings on Thursday, it was noted that Ansari did not appear in the virtual hearing from Banda jail. Instead, Deputy Jailor Mahendra Singh represented the prison authority and confirmed Ansari’s ill state.
The case against Ansari and his 12 associates was registered in March 2022.
Ansari, involved in several cases, has been lodged in Banda jail since 2021 after being transferred from a Punjab Jail. According to the UP police headquarters, Mukhtar has 65 cases against him, including murder, extortion, and criminal conspiracy, across various police stations in the state. He has been convicted in seven of these cases. Ansari, a five-time MLA from the Mau assembly constituency, did not contest the 2022 assembly elections, and his seat was won by his son Abbas Ansari from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).
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