Jailed Mafia Don Mukhtar Ansari Dies of Cardiac Arrest in Banda Medical College
Desk Report, March 29, 2024: Mukhtar Ansari, a prominent mafia gangster and five-time former MLA from the Mau Sadar seat, passed away on Thursday night due to a cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment at Banda Medical College. He was 63 years old.
Mukhtar Ansari, who had 65 criminal cases pending against him, had been incarcerated in jails in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005. He was serving sentences in eight cases since September 2022, and was currently lodged in Banda jail.
The district hospital was heavily fortified, and journalists were restricted from entering the premises as security was intensified in Mukhtar Ansari’s home district of Ghazipur and the neighboring Mau district. District Magistrate of Ghazipur, Aryka Akhauri, and Superintendent of Police, Omvir Singh, closely monitored the situation. SP Mau, Elemaran G, visited the area to oversee security arrangements in the communally sensitive and mixed-populated district.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, Mukhtar Ansari was found unconscious and was immediately referred to the district hospital after complaining of abdominal pain and constipation. He was discharged after 15 hours of treatment.
Last week, Mukhtar Ansari’s lawyer, Randheer Singh Suman, had filed an application before a court in Barabanki seeking a proper medical examination, alleging that Mukhtar Ansari was being administered ‘slow poisoning’ by the Banda prison staff. Mukhtar Ansari had faced convictions in eight cases within a span of just 18 months, including two life terms.
He was transferred to Banda jail in April 2021 on the directions of the Supreme Court from Ropar jail in Punjab. His brother and Ghazipur MP, Afzal Ansari, had reached the hospital on Tuesday and alleged that Mukhtar Ansari had been poisoned in jail.
On Thursday evening, Mukhtar Ansari was again admitted to Banda Medical College after being found unconscious in his barrack by jail officials. He was taken to the emergency department of Rani Durgavati Medical College, Banda, by the jail personnel in a vomiting and unconscious state. Despite the immediate medical care provided by a team of nine doctors, Mukhtar Ansari could not be revived and succumbed to a cardiac arrest.
The demise of Mukhtar Ansari marks the end of a controversial and tumultuous chapter in Uttar Pradesh’s political and criminal landscape.
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