Ansari convicted in kidnapping & murder case, sentenced to 10 yrs

GHAZIPUR: An MP MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on Saturday convicted jailed mafia Mukhtar Ansari in a kidnapping and murder case pertaining to the killing of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.

A fine of Rs 5 lakh was also imposed on the jailed mafia.

He was produced virtually before the court today.

Earlier today, wife of late BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai who was murdered in Ghazipur in 2005 allegedly by gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari on Saturday said that the rule of mafia has ended in Uttar Pradesh and that she has faith in the judiciary.

"I believe in the judiciary. Rule of Goondas, Mafias have ended (in the state)," Alka Rai said, wife of late BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai who was murdered in Ghazipur in 2005.

Ghazipur MP-MLA court will today pronounce the verdict in the case, in which gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari are accused.

Security was heightened ahead of the verdict by an MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur in a kidnapping and murder case against gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, his elder brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari on Saturday.

Earlier in January this year, the police registered a murder case against Mukhtar Ansari in connection to the 2001 'Usri Chatti' gang war incident.

A case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Ansari at PS Mohammadabad in Ghazipur.

Earlier on January 18, Allahabad High Court dismissed the March 15 order of the Ghazipur MP/MLA Court, which allowed Ansari to be kept in a superior-class jail in Banda.

While giving the order, the court had said the order of the special court is without jurisdiction, and gangster, dreaded criminal Bahubali Ansari is not legally entitled to get a superior class in jail.

Earlier on December 15 last year, Ansari and his aide Bhim Singh were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Gangster Court in Ghazipur in five cases related to murder and attempt to murder.

The cases include the murder of constable Raghuvansh Singh and a murderous assault on an additional SP of Ghazipur among others.

On September 21, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court convicted Mukhtar Ansari and sentenced him for threatening jailer SK Awasthi and pointing a pistol at him.

The case dates to 2003 when Lucknow district prison jailer SK Awasthi lodged an FIR saying that he was threatened to order a search of the people who came to meet Ansari in prison.

On September 23, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court sentenced him to five years in a case registered in 1999 under the Gangster Act. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Mukhtar in this 23-year-old case.