Jailed Gangster Mukhtar Ansari Dies Of Cardiac Arrest, Family Alleges Poisoning In Prison: Here's All You Need To Know

Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died from a heart attack after being rushed to the hospital on Thursday (28 March) evening.

Ansari, a five-time MLA from Mau, Uttar Pradesh, had been in jail in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005.

The 63-year-old Ansari was lodged in a jail in UP's Banda.

He was brought in an unconscious state to Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, by prison officials after he vomited.

"The patient was provided immediate medical care by a team of nine doctors. But, despite their best efforts, the patient died due to a cardiac arrest," the bulletin, which was in Hindi, said. 

Meanwhile, the family of Mukhtar Ansari has alleged that he was poisoned in the prison.

"Mukhtar said that 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, he was again given this (poison) due to which his condition was bad," his brother Afzal Ansari had been quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Mukhtar Ansari's son Umar also alleged that his father was given poison in the food and said he would approach the court.

"We said this before also and even today we will say the same thing. On March 19, he was poisoned in the dinner. We will move to the judiciary, we have full faith in it...," he said, NDTV reported.

Born in 1963 into an influential family, Mukhtar Ansari turned to crime, becoming involved in the government contract mafia in Uttar Pradesh. His criminal activities started in 1978 at age 15 with an accusation of criminal intimidation. By 1986, he was implicated in a murder case.

Throughout the next decade, Ansari faced over 14 serious criminal charges, but this did not prevent him from entering politics.

He was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1996 with the Bahujan Samaj Party in Mau, and he won subsequent elections in 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017.

In 2022, he stepped aside for his son Abbas, who won the seat on the ticket of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party.

Ansari was lodged in various jails in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab from 2005 until his death, facing 28 criminal charges, including murder, and seven under the Gangster Act.

He was convicted in eight cases since September 2022, with ongoing trials in 21 cases.

Significant legal actions against him include a life sentence and fine for fraudulently obtaining an arms license, and multiple convictions for murder and threats, resulting in various prison terms and fines.

In June 2023, a Varanasi MP/MLA had awarded life imprisonment to Ansari in the case of murder of Awadesh Rai, the elder brother of former Congress MLA and present UP Congress president Ajay Rai.

In October 2023, a Ghazipur MP/MLA court had awarded him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and penalty of 5 lakh in a Gangster Act case lodged against him in 2010.

The Uttar Pradesh government had to approach the Supreme Court to bring Ansari back to the state from Ropar jail in Punjab.

Ansari, then a BSP MLA, was lodged in the Ropar jail in January 2019 in connection with an extortion case and remained there for a period of more than two years.

In March 2021, while hearing a plea of the UP government, the SC had directed the Punjab government to hand over Ansari's custody to UP, saying it was being denied on trivial grounds under the guise of medical issues.

The court had also said that a convict or an under-trial prisoner, who disobeys the law of the land, cannot oppose his transfer from one prison to another and the courts are not to be helpless bystanders when the rule of law is being challenged with impunity.

His criminal network faced significant crackdowns since 2020, with the police seizing or demolishing properties and halting illegal activities worth hundreds of crores.

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