Mukhtar Ansari convicted in murder case: here's a look at gangster's life

A five-term former MLA, Mukhtar Ansari is currently serving a 10-year jail term in the kidnapping and murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai

A court in Varanasi on Monday convicted gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the murder of Congress leader Awadhesh Rai more than 30 years ago. Awadhesh Rai, brother of Congress leader Ajay Rai, was shot dead on August 3, 1991.

A Varanasi court sentenced Mukhtar Ansari to life imprisonment for the murder of Congress leader Awadhesh Rai in 1991.

Mukhtar Ansari had been elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) five times from Mau constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Ansari faces charges for more than 50 cases and has been lodged in prison since 2005.

Here is the entire timeline of Ansari, beginning from his time as a gangster to his political career and finally his arrest.

 

Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, his paternal grandfather, was a freedom fighter and the president of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League during the Indian independence movement. Mukhtar Ansari’s maternal grandfather, Mohammad Usman, was a brigadier who was killed in action during the Indo-Pak war in 1948 and was posthumously awarded the Mahaveer Chakra. He is also a relative of India's former Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

In the early 1970s, the government commissioned several development projects in the Poorvanchal area. This resulted in the rise of organised gangs that competed with each other to grab the contracts for these projects. Mukhtar Ansari was a member of the Makhanu Singh gang.

In the 1980s, his gang clashed with another gang led by Sahib Singh over a plot of land in Saidpur, which resulted in violent incidents. Brijesh Singh, a member of Sahib Singh's gang, formed his own gang and took over Ghazipur's contract work mafia in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, Ansari's gang competed with him for control of the Rs 100-crore contract business, which included coal mining, railway construction, scrap disposal, and liquor business. The gangs were involved in running extortion rackets and kidnapping.

In the early 1990s, Mukhtar Ansari also started his political career as a student union leader in Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He was later elected as an MLA in 1996. He then started challenging Brijesh Singh's dominance. The two became the main rivals in the Poorvanchal region.

In 2002, Singh ambushed Ansari's convoy and three of Ansari's men were killed. Brijesh Singh was critically injured and presumed dead. This led to Mukhtar Ansari becoming the undisputed leader in Poorvanchal area. However, Brijesh Singh was later found to be alive and the feud between the two continued.

To counter Ansari's influence in the region, Brijesh Singh supported the election campaign of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai. Rai defeated Mukhtar Ansari's brother and five-time MLA Afzal Ansari from Mohammadabad in the 2002 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Mukhtar Ansari and his brother then planned to eliminate Rai.

Mukhtar Ansari had capitalised on the Muslim vote bank. He then started inciting communal violence in the Mau district. He later faced charges of inciting violence following one such riot and was lodged in jail.

While he was in jail, Rai was shot dead along with his six aides. The attackers fired over 400 bullets from six AK-47 rifles; 67 bullets were recovered from the seven bodies. In 2006, Shashikant Rai, an important witness in the case, was also found dead.

Ansari and his brother joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2007. Mukhtar Ansari then contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections for the BSP from Varanasi, while he was in jail. He lost to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Murli Manohar Joshi.

In 2010, both brothers were finally expelled by the BSP due to their involvement in criminal activities.

In April this year, an MP-MLA court in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh convicted jailed Mukhtar Ansari in the kidnapping and murder case of Krishnanand Rai. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined Rs 5 lakh. His brother was also convicted in the same case and sentenced to four years in prison. The trial of the case took place under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in which the duo was booked for their involvement in the Krishnanand Rai murder case.