 "UP has been under high alert after death of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. PTI File")
Security has been beefed up across districts of Uttar Pradesh after gangster Mukhtar Ansari, a former five-time MLA, was found dead in Banda prison. Ansari’s family refuted reports of him dying of a cardiac arrest and alleged that the gangster-turned-politician was poisoned.
Mukhtar Ansari was rushed to a hospital on Thursday after his health deteriorated, a few hours upon reaching, he was declared dead by the doctors at the Rani Durgavati Medical College. A panel of five doctors will conduct the postmortem on Friday.
After the gangster’s death was announced crowd gathered in large number outside his residence in Ghazipur and the Banda hospital, following which prohibitory orders on large gatherings have been imposed.
Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said that Section 144 of the CrPC has been implemented across the state as a precautionary measure. The UP Police’s social media cell is also on high alert to track the “unlawful elements” that can disturb the law and order situation in the state.
The CRPF units have been called to assist the Police and have been deployed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur, and Varanasi where the politician was said to have a stronghold. It also strengthened security in the UP’s Firozabad and Aligarh districts.
Ansari’s family, including his brother and son, allege that the BSP’s ‘don-neta’, who has been in jail since 2005, was slowly poisoned over time, an ANI report said quoting Ansari’s son Umar.
Opposition leaders demand probe
Former chief minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said Uttar Pradesh is under ‘zero hour’ of law and order and the state is going through the worst phase of ‘government anarchy’.
Another SP leader, Ameeque Jamei, said: “We stand with the family of Mukhtar Ansari… Recently he said that he can be murdered anytime…Why he was not given a proper medical facility…We will demand a thorough investigation of the incident.”
Mukhtar Ansari had 60 criminal cases pending against him. He was sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts of UP.
With input from agencies