Mukhtar Ansari gets five-year jail in Gangsters Act case

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday convicted and sentenced don-turned-politician and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari to five-year rigorous imprisonment in a 23-year-old Gangsters Act case. HC imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him. Justice D K Singh passed the order overturning the acquittal by a special MP-MLA court in 2020. The bench said since Mukhtar is already in jail, there is no need to pass an order for his surrender.

State counsel Rao Narendra Singh said FIR was lodged with Lucknow's Hazratganj police in 1999 and a special court acquitted Ansari in 2020. State filed an appeal against acquittal in 2021.

Allowing the state government's appeal, the bench said, "Special MP-MLA court grossly erred in acquitting Mukhtar. Gang-chart was proved as documentary evidence. Mukhtar is a gangster and he allegedly committed several offences and is found guilty for offences under Section 2/3 Gangsters Act."