Mukhtar Ansari, 5-time MLA from Mau, dies in prison

Mukhtar Ansari was grandson of veteran freedom fighter Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari. BSP Supremo Kumari Mayawati used to call him a "messiah of the poor”. Read More

Friday March 29, 2024 1:41 AM, ummid.com News Network

Lucknow: Mukhtar Ansari, 5-time MLA from Mau Assembly Constituency in Uttar Pradesh, who was in jail and observing Ramadan fast, died on Thursday March 28, 2024.

Mukhatr Ansari was lodged in Banda district jail. He was shifted to a local hospital at around 08:25 PM Thursday after his health condition worsened.

“The 63-year-old politician's health condition deteriorated after he broke his Ramzan fast”, India Today reported citing the jail authorities.

Mukhar Ansari had been taken to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in the district by jail authorities in an unconscious state around 8.25 PM Thursday after he complained of vomiting, according to a medical bulletin issued by the jail authorities.

Family Lineage

Mukhtar Ansari was grandson of veteran freedom fighter and one of the front leaders of the Indian National Congress during the freedom movement, Mukhtar Ansari.

On maternal side, his grandfather Brigadier Mohammad Usman, was a decorated officer in the Indian Army. He made the ultimate sacrifice in the Nowshera Sector of Jammu and Kashmir during a conflict with Pakistan in 1948, earning the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously.

Mukhtar Ansari was also a close relative of former Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

Allegations of poisoning

Mukhtar Ansari died a day after his brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, claimed that the jailed politician was being given a "poisonous substance" in jail.

"Mukhtar said he was given a poisonous substance in his food in jail. This happened for the second time. He was given poison around 40 days ago as well. And, recently, on March 19 or March 22, he was again given this (poison) due to which his condition is bad," news agency PTI quoted Afzal Ansari as saying.

Mukhtar Ansari himself had written a letter to Chief Judicial Magistrate in Mau Court on March 21, 2024 claiming he was being poisioned by the jail authorities.

'A Messiah of the Poor'

Mukhtar Ansari won the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections two times as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate. BSP supremo Kumari Mayawati used to call Mukhtar Ansari a “messiah of the poor”.

Mukhtar Ansari was facing a number of criminal cases against him. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) after coming to power in 2017 expedited the cases against him.

Crowd gathered outside residence of Mukhtar Ansari in Ghazipur district of UP. Heavy police, paramilitary force have been mobilized to check any untoward incident. pic.twitter.com/mJqnixt5AT
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) March 28, 2024

In April 2023, he was convicted and sentenced 10 years imprisonment for killing BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai by an MP MLA court.

Mukhtar Ansari was handed a life sentence on March 13, 2024 in connection with a fake arm license case.

Mukhtar Ansari died in prison about a year after former MP and MLA, Atiq Ahmed, and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in the presence of the police and in full glare of the media.

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