Special hearing in case against Mukhtar on Aug 5

Varanasi: Additional District Judge-IV (MP-MLA) Durgesh Kumar’s court, on Thursday, fixed August 5 as the next date for special hearing in the 2009 Gangsters Act case against jailed mafia don Mukhtar Ansari.Mukhtar was booked under Gangsters Act for the third time by Ghazipur police in 2009 after he was accused in two cases including the case of murder attempt and criminal conspiracy lodged with Karanda police. Mukhtar had already been convicted in two other Gangsters Act cases.Mukhtar’s lawyer Liyaqat Ali said that hearing could not take place on Thursday as his senior colleague was ill. The court fixed August 5 as the next date for the hearing, he said. As per the records of this Gangsters Act case, one Mir Hassan of Mohammadabad had lodged a case of murder attempt against Sonu Yadav of Parsahi in 2009. During the police investigation, Mukhtar was accused of conspiring in this case. Mukhtar was also accused in the Kapildeo Singh murder case that took place in Karanda police station area in 2009. On the basis of these two cases, the Karanda police had booked Mukhtar and other two accused— Radhey alias Radheyshyam Harijan and Sonu under Gangsters Act.Mukhtar had already been awarded punishment in two other cases of Gangsters Act lodged by the Ghazipur police. On April 29, Mukhtar and his brother Afzal Ansari were awarded 10 years and four-year imprisonment, respectively in a case of Gangster Act in which they had been booked in 2007. Mukhtar was booked for his involvement in coal tycoon and Vishwa Hindu Parishad office-bearer Nandkishore Rungta kidnapping case of 1996 and BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case of 2005.In another case of Gangsters Act lodged against Mukhtar and his close aide Bhim Singh in 1996, the MP-MLA court of Ghazipur on December 15, 2022 had awarded 10-year rigorous punishment. Mukhtar is currently lodged in Banda jail.