Such was the fear of Mukhtar Ansari: first case at the age of 15, first punishment after 44 years

Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari ruled UP's Purvanchal for 4 decades. The fear was so much that even the police was afraid to take action against him for four decades. Many criminal cases were filed but no action was taken.

Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari

Source: PTI

Mafia Mukhtar Ansari was once such a terror in Uttar Pradesh that the police, businessmen, politicians all remained silent in front of him. His convoy used to have 20 to 30 vehicles and no one had the courage to stop his convoy.

All the vehicles had the same number- 786. When this convoy used to move on the roads, people used to get scared.

The fear was so much that sometimes the route on which he used to travel was diverted for the common people. Especially when he used to travel in an open-roof jeep. At that time, Mukhtar's terror had spread in many districts of Uttar Pradesh including Mau, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Varanasi. Mukhtar Ansari has been an MLA 5 times.

Grandfather was a freedom fighter, uncle was Vice President.

Mukhtar Ansari, whose grandfather Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was a freedom fighter, was close to Mahatma Gandhi, was also the President of the Indian National Congress in the year 1926-27, he entered the world of crime at the age of just 15 and never looked back.

Not only this, former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari was Mukhtar's uncle.

Mukhtar Ansari's maternal grandfather Brigadier Mohammad Usman was a respected officer in the Indian Army. He was posthumously awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his bravery during the battle with Pakistan in the Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir in 1948. Mukhtar's father Subhanullah Ansari was also a politician with a clean image. 

First crime at the age of 15

Mukhtar Ansari was born on 30 June 1963 in Ghazipur. The first case was registered against him in 1978 at the age of 15. After this, more than 60 cases were registered against him, out of which 16 were murder charges.

Cases are registered against him and his gang in New Delhi, Punjab, Mau, Varanasi, Lucknow, Azamgarh, Barabanki, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Agra and Ghazipur in UP. The maximum number of cases, 22, are registered in Ghazipur district. 

The first murder case was registered against Mukhtar Ansari in 1986, but witnesses and complainants were so afraid of him that no one could speak openly against him. After the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in UP, the noose began to tighten on the mafia.

It took 44 years for Mukhtar to get his first punishment. He got his first punishment in 2022.

Within 18 months between September 2022 and March 2024, mafia Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced in eight different cases. Also, the UP police either confiscated or destroyed his property worth about Rs 900 crore.

How Mukhtar entered the world of crime It

is a matter of the 1980s. Mukhtar first came into the news after the murder of a man named Sachchidanand Rai. Mukhtar's father was the chairman of Muhammadabad Nagar Panchayat, at that time there was some dispute between Mukhtar's father and Sachchidanand. It was alleged that Mukhtar killed Sachchidanand to take revenge. 

Ansari made a name for himself in the world of crime due to his rivalry with another gangster Brijesh Singh. At that time, Brijesh Singh was the king of Purvanchal. Both were bitter enemies of each other. In 1991, Mukhtar was caught by Chandauli police, but he escaped after shooting two policemen.

After this he became most wanted for the police. In August 1991, Mukhtar killed Awadhesh Rai, brother of UP Congress Chief Ajay Rai. In this case, he was also sentenced to life imprisonment in the year 2022.

Then how did he step into the world of politics?

Mukhtar, who had earned a name for himself in the world of crime, was slowly realizing that if he wanted to play a long and safe innings, then the path of crime alone was not enough. Politics was the only ground through which he could strengthen his hold in Purvanchal.

That is why he decided to enter politics. His move completely changed the political equations of about six districts of Purvanchal.

Mukhtar's two elder brothers Sibghatullah and Afzal Ansari were already in politics. In 1996, he also contested the Ghosi Lok Sabha election on a BSP ticket. Former Union Minister Kalpanath Rai was standing against him. The special thing is that Kalpanath Rai was also accused of serious crimes. He was accused of helping Dawood Ibrahim.

Mukhtar may have lost the parliamentary election, but his political ground was ready. The same year he reached the assembly as an MLA from Mau. This was just the beginning. Mukhtar established his dominance in the politics of Purvanchal with his strategy.

At the same time, he kept strengthening his mafia empire. Soon, he started taking over the fish business, real estate and other government contracts in Purvanchal.

In 2005, time took a turn and Mukhtar went to jail.

In 2005, Mukhtar Ansari went to jail for the first time on charges of inciting Mau riots. He was imprisoned in jails of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in different criminal cases. In the same year, he was accused of killing BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and 6 other people by firing bullets.

The attackers fired about 400 rounds. After this incident, Mukhtar could never come out of jail. He even contested elections twice from jail and won. He kept running his 'government' by holding public darbars in the jail itself.

In 2022, he was convicted for the first time by the court in the murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and sentenced to 10 years. After this, he was convicted in other cases. Mukhtar was also serving life imprisonment in some cases.

That means, for the first time, he has been convicted in any case 44 years after the first case was filed against him in 1988. 

Mukhtar Ansari, who was serving his sentence in jail, died on 28 March 2024. The police administration says that Mukhtar died due to a heart attack. However, his son Umar Ansari claims that his father was being slowly poisoned, which led to a heart attack.

It is also worth noting that on March 19, 2024, 10 days before his death, Mukhtar Ansari had told the Barabanki court that he was being slowly poisoned in his food. The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a 3-member magisterial inquiry to investigate these allegations.

Ref- Abp News