Two illegally built houses owned by Mukhtar Ansari’s family razed in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: Two three-storeyed housing units said to be illegally constructed by BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s sons on a government land in a prime locality of Jiamau area of the city were demolished by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) on Thursday.
The exercise was carried out on the district magistrate’s direction by an LDA squad with 20 earthmovers led by seven officers and escorted by over 250 police personnel.Ansari's sons, Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari, also reached the spot and tried to resist the drive claiming that the land belonged to their grandmother, but left when police officials warned them of action for interfering in government officials' duty.

Later in the day, the CM office tweeted that 'the crackdown on the don's empire would continue'. "The end of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari is near. His illegal properties worth Rs 66 crore have been seized and 97 of his gang members are in police custody," the CM office tweeted. Additional deputy commissioner of police, central, Chiranjeevi Nath Sinha, told TOI that revenue department officials lodged an FIR against Ansari and his sons — Umar and Abbas.
‘Land came under evacuee property’
The three have been booked under the charges of dishonesty, forgery, forgery of valuable security, fraudulently using a genuine document and prevention of damage to public property act has also been slapped.
According to the DM’s order, the piece of land was disputed and sub-judice in the court of sub-divisional magistrate. The court on August 14 ruled the land came under 'nishkrantsampatti' (evacuee property) and the two buildings constructed on it are illegal.
Subsequently, the LDA was directed to restore the original status of the land by demolishing the two buildings. The `nishkrant sampatti’ is a term used to define evacuee property belonging to people who have migrated to other places or Pakistan due to communal disturbances before 1956.
LDA secretary Ritu Suhas said that the cost of demolition would be realised from those who constructed the twin buildings and a FIR in this regard lodged against Ansari's sons.
Suhas also said that a probe also revealed that Ansari family illegally constructed the building without getting the map approved by the LDA, following which notices were pasted on the walls of the two buildings on August 11 with a warning to razing the building if occupants are not able to prove their legality.
District administration officers also said that the state government would fix the responsibility on the LDA and administrative officials in whose tenure the twin towers were constructed.