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A court docket in Ghazipur on Saturday sentenced gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother and Bahujan Samaj Party MP Afzal Ansari to imprisonment for 10 years and 4 years, respectively in a 2007 Gangsters Act case.
IMAGE: Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari is being produced in a district court docket in a cash laundering case, in Prayagraj on December 28, 2022. Photograph: ANI Photo
“The court docket of Additional Sessions Judge/First MP-MLA Court Durgesh additionally imposed a effective of Rs 5 lakh on Mukhtar and Rs 1 lakh on Afzal,” ADGC Criminal Neeraj Srivastava stated.
Afzal, the BSP MP from Ghazipur parliamentary constituency, was produced in the court docket, whereas his brother Mukhtar attended the proceedings by way of video conferencing.
Afzal was later taken into custody and despatched to jail.
The verdict may result in Afzal dropping his Lok Sabha membership.
According to the Representation of the People Act, any member can be disqualified if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for 2 years or extra.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (from Wayanad in Kerala) and UP legislators, together with Azam Khan (Rampur), his son Abdullah Azam (Suar) and BJP’s Vikram Saini (Khatauli-Muzaffarnagar), had not too long ago misplaced their memberships underneath the provisions of the identical Act.
A press release issued by Special Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar stated, “Several instances towards mafia and head of IS(Inter State)-191 gang Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari are being heard in varied courts of the state. In one in all these instances, resulting from efficient prosecution, the duo was sentenced on Saturday.”
On 22 November 2007, a case was filed underneath the Gangsters Act towards the Ansari brothers on the Muhammadabad Kotwali police station.
The duo was booked underneath the UP Gangsters Act in reference to the murder of the then MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanad Rai on November 29, 2005 together with the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based dealer Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
On 23 September 2022, prima facie fees had been framed towards the 2.
After listening to the arguments of each the edges, the court docket reserved its choice which was pronounced Saturday.
After the court docket’s verdict, Rai’s nephew Anand Rai expressed his gratitude to the court docket in addition to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
He stated at the moment, (Yogi) has made Uttar Pradesh fear-free, whereas in the earlier governments of the opposition, goons used to behave like mafia.
Mukhtar is presently lodged in Banda jail. He had been an MLA for 5 consecutive phrases from Mau Sadar meeting seat in neighbouring Mau district of Uttar Pradesh.
The gangster-politician didn’t contest the 2022 meeting elections and his seat was gained by his son Abbas Ansari from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).