"Result of effective lobbying..." UP Special DG on Mukhtar Ansari's life imprisonment sentence

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 6 : After a special MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi awarded life imprisonment to jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the 1991 Awadhesh Rai murder case, Special law and order DG for the state Prashant Kumar said that the verdict is the result of the "effective lobbying".

"Mukhtar Ansari is the leader of 191 gangs, his elders have a total of 61 cases registered in UP, Punjab, and New Delhi. Mukhtar has been sentenced in 5 cases this year. The action was taken against 298 members of his gang, in which 205 of his people have been arrested. Work was done to stop the tender of 2100 crores related to the accused. Today's punishment is the result of our effective lobbying," Kumar told the reporters on Monday.

A special MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi awarded life imprisonment to jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the 1991 Awadhesh Rai murder case.

On August 3, 1991, Congress leader and brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, Awadhesh Rai, was shot dead outside Ajay Rai's house in Varanasi.

Ansari was presented before the court through video conference where the court convicted him under Sections 145 and 302.

Reacting to the court's judgement advocate Ajay Rai said, "Today, we have won after a 32-year-long battle. We welcome the verdict of the court...If anything happens to me the responsibility will lie on the BJP government.

The Special Court which concluded the hearing after arguments on May 19, reserved its order, and fixed June 5 as the date to deliver it. In the case of the killing of Awadhesh Rai, Ajay Rai had named Mukhtar Ansari, Bhim Singh and former MLA Abdul Kalim, in the FIR.

On May 17, a Ghazipur MP-MLA Court acquitted Mukhtar Ansari accused in a case of conspiracy of a murder attempt in Uttar Pradesh's Mohammadabad area in the district.

In 2009, Mir Hasan filed a case of attempt to murder against Ansari under 120B. A case under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Ansari at Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur.