Mukhtar Ansari: The End Of An Era Marked By Crime, Politics, And Controversy

Jailed gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari died of a cardiac arrest in a hospital in Banda on Thursday, despite efforts from doctors to save him. His death marked the end of his era of crime and politics that gripped the regions of Mau, Ghazipur, Chandauli, and Varanasi for decades.

Born in Ghazipur in 1963, Ansari hailed from a political family with both his grandfathers being prominent figures in the political landscape. His paternal grandfather, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was a Congress leader who also served as the party’s president in 1927. He was also the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University at the time of his death. While his maternal grandfather, Brigadier Mohammad Usman was a decorated Indian Army officer who died in the line of duty in 1948, earning the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously.

The former Mau MLA, however, took a different path, entering the world of crime as early as age 15, facing charges of criminal intimidation at Saidpur Police Station in Ghazipur. In the following years Ansari started gaining notoriety in the contract mafia circles and in 1986 was charged with murder. Mukhtar Ansari faced charges in over 65 criminal cases including murder, kidnapping, extortion and other illegal activities mostly in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Mukhtar Ansari first entered politics in 1995 when he became the leader of a student union. In 1996 he became the MLA of Mau. He then won the seat five times after that, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. However the party later expelled Ansari after realising that he had continued to engage in criminal activities despite his initial promise.

When Yogi Adityanath’s government came to power in 2017, it cracked down on Ansari and his gang members. Over the past 18 months, Mukhtar Ansari faced multiple convictions. In April 2023, he received a 10-year sentence for kidnapping Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Nand Kishore Rungta and for the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. Another significant case was the murder of Awadhesh Rai, brother of Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2023.

Mukhtar Ansari’s sons and brothers have also been under the government's radar in the past few years and their assets and properties worth crores have been seized. 

According to The Wire reports, till December 2023, the police had shot dead five people associated with Ansari in alleged encounters. They had also taken legal action against 292 people linked to him, booked 164 of his associates under the Gangsters Act, six under the National Security Act, and expelled 60 associates from their districts. Additionally, they had arrested 186 people and cancelled 175 weapon licences.

The ex-MLA who had been behind bars since 2005 enjoyed strong support of the Muslim population especially in the Mau-Ghazipur region he was politically associated with, and was seen by many as a Robin Hood figure. Hundreds of supporters were seen outside his residence in Ghazipur following his death last night.

Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari has alleged his brother was being poisoned and a probe has been ordered to investigate his death.