Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Banda in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. He was 63.
Here are 5 facts about Mukhtar Ansari:
No one has won from Mau in Uttar Pradesh for the second time in a row since 1952, but Mukhtar Ansari broke the myth by winning the seat five times in a row from 1996, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last participated in the parliamentary elections in 2017.
Mukhtar Ansari, who has been in jail in several criminal cases since 2005, was brought to Banda jail from Punjab by the Uttar Pradesh government after a trial.
The gangster turned politician had more than sixty criminal cases against him. He was convicted in eight cases by various courts of Uttar Pradesh since September 2022.
In April 2023, Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. He was sentenced to life in prison on March 13, 2024, in a case related to the use of forged documents to obtain a gun permit in 1990.
The gangster, who hails from Mau, is also said to have a strong influence in Ghazipur and Varanasi districts. His name was included in the list of 66 gangsters issued by the Uttar Pradesh police last year.
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