An MP-MLA court in Ghazipur has sentenced jailed mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to 10 years of imprisonment in a case registered under the Gangsters Act.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar has also levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh on him.
The case under the Gangsters Act dates back to 2010 when it was filed against Ansari at the Karanda police station. This followed the murder of Kapildev Singh, a teacher, and an attempt on the life of Meer Hasan, a trader, both occurring in 2009.
Additionally, the court has sentenced Sonu Yadav, a member of Mukhtar Ansari’s gang, to five years of imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh. This information was shared by the Additional District Government Counsel of Ghazipur, Neeraj Srivastava.
Mr. Srivastava revealed that the court declared Mukhtar Ansari guilty on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government in a statement said Ansari was produced in the court via video-conferencing from the Banda prison during the hearing of the case.
In all, Ansari has been sentenced in six cases, it added.
Regarding the murder of government school teacher Kapildev Singh, who resided in Suapur village under the Karanda police station area, he was killed by two motorcycle-borne assailants in 2009. In this case, Chandan Yadav and Radheyshyam Harijan faced murder charges, and Ansari was booked under IPC section 120B for criminal conspiracy, explained Mr. Srivastava.
In the case related to the attempted murder of Meer Hasan, the trader was assaulted by Sonu Yadav and another individual, who also issued threats to kill him unless he met Ansari in prison. Consequently, in 2010, a case under the Gangsters Act was filed against Ansari and Sonu Yadav.
During the investigation, Radheyshyam Harijan passed away, while Chandan Yadav was acquitted. Mukhtar Ansari, a five-time MLA from the Mau assembly constituency, refrained from contesting the 2022 assembly elections, and his seat was secured by his son Abbas Ansari from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).
