UP’s mafia and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by Ghazipur’s MP/MLA court on 29 April. His brother BSP MP Afzal will also have to spend 4 years in jail. A case was registered against both of them under the Gangster Act for the murder of MLA Krishnanand Rai and the kidnapping of businessman Nandkishore Rungta.
The Ansari family has always been powerful in the politics of Purvanchal. Its effect is up to Mau, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Ballia, and Banaras. Mukhtar’s grandfather Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was an ally of Gandhiji in the freedom struggle, maternal grandfather Mohammad Usman was a brigadier in the army and Mahavir Chakra winner, father Subhanullah Ansari became a politician and uncle Hamid Ansari became the Vice President. Mukhtar Ansari himself was also elected MLA 5 consecutive times from Mau’s seat.
Mukhtar imprisoned for 18 years is now in Banda Jail. There are 61 cases registered against him. Of these, 8 cases of murder have been registered while in jail. The jail in which Mukhtar stayed, he made according to his mind. Be it Ghazipur Jail, Banda Jail, or Ropar Jail in Punjab. Whoever the jailer is, it is Mukhtar’s. Retired police officers and jailers also agree with this.
Mukhtar continued to run the gang from jail itself. In March 2023, the Allahabad High Court, while hearing the bail of a shooter, called the Mukhtar gang the most dangerous gang in the country.
4 stories of Mukhtar’s status in jail…
First story: To eat fish, a pond was dug in Ghazipur jail
A sample of Mukhtar’s response in the jails of UP is the story of Ghazipur jail. Mukhtar Ansari surrendered after violence broke out in Mau in 2005. He was kept in Ghazipur Jail. Mukhtar was then MLA. He had got a pond dug in the jail itself to eat fresh fish. Rajya Sabha MP and former DGP Brijlal also agreed to this. Mukhtar then used to play badminton with senior officers including DM in Ghazipur Jail.
Second story: Mukhtar Banda came to jail, jailer’s chair remained vacant for one and a half year
Mukhtar Ansari was shifted from Ropar Jail in Punjab to Banda Jail in UP in April 2021. The effect of this was that no jailer was ready to take charge of this jail. Later two jail officials Vijay Vikram Singh and AK Singh were sent.
In June 2021, the Banda district administration raided the jail. During that time many jail employees were found engaged in the service of Mukhtar. On the joint report of the then DM Anurag Patel and SP Abhinandan, Deputy Jailor Vireshwar Pratap Singh and 4 captive guards were suspended.
Third story: When Mukhtar came out of the barrack, the CCTV cameras of the jail were switched off.
Mukhtar is in Banda Jail for two years. In the last week of March 2023, a prisoner has come out of this jail. On the condition of anonymity, he told that Mukhtar has been kept in a special high-security cell. His barrack is separate from the other prisoners. This barrack is built near the middle gate of the jail. Every day he sits near the gate by putting on a chair for an hour or two. There he meets the jail officer and other prisoners.
As long as Mukhtar sits there, no one can come and go through that gate. Even when I had to be released from jail, Mukhtar was sitting at the same gate. Because of this, my release was delayed by about two hours. As long as Mukhtar is out of his barrack, the CCTVs of that part of the jail remain switched off, so that no one knows whom he is meeting.
Fourth story: Dussehri mangoes were found in Mukhtar’s barrack, outside food
In June 2022, the DM raided Banda Jail. Sources tell that then Dussehri mangoes as well as hotel food were found in Mukhtar’s barrack. Mukhtar’s status was such that whatever facility he wanted, he used to get it in the barrack only.
It is told that when Mukhtar came to Banda Jail after being transferred, his henchmen started living around the jail by taking rooms on rent. Afzal Ansari, Mukhtar’s elder brother, and MP from Ghazipur, had expressed the apprehension of Mukhtar’s murder in Banda Jail.
Mukhtar became accused of riots in 2005, and since then in jail
In Mau, the tradition of Bharat Milap, the context of Ramayana, is going on since the Mughal period. It was started by Jahanara, the daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb. In 2005, a riot broke out during Bharat Milap. This went on for about a month. Then there was the Samajwadi Party government in the state. Mukhtar was made an accused in the riot cases. He surrendered in Ghazipur on 25 October 2005. Since then he is in jail.
Both the cases, for which Mukhtar and Afzal were punished…
- Krishnanand Rai murder case, after which Mukhtar’s bad time started
Mukhtar’s elder brother Afzal Ansari had won five consecutive elections from 1985 to 1996 from Ghazipur’s Mohammadabad assembly seat. In the 2002 election, BJP’s Krishnanand Rai defeated Afzal Ansari.
Three years later, on 29 November 2005, Krishnanand Rai was assassinated. Krishnanand had gone to inaugurate a cricket tournament. While returning, the shooters surrounded Krishnanand Rai’s car and fired more than 400 rounds from AK-47. Krishnanand and 6 people present with him were killed. Mukhtar was in jail at that time, yet he was named in the murder case.
- Nandkishore Rungta murder case: Coal businessman picked up on the pretext of a deal and murdered
Coal businessman Nand Kishore Rungta was abducted and murdered in 1997 in Bhelupur, Banaras. In December 1997, Nand Kishore’s brother Mahavir Prasad Rungta lodged a case at the Bhelupur police station. His allegation was that on November 5, 1997, at 5 pm, Mukhtar Ansari had threatened over the telephone. An extortion of 5 crores was demanded from him. Out of this, he had given Rs 1.5 crore.
Mahavir Prasad had registered a case against Mukhtar Ansari and Ataur Rahman alias Babu. It was alleged that Nand Kishore was murdered by Mukhtar’s most trusted shooter Ataur Rehman. Rahman disguised himself as a coal businessman and called Nand Kishore on the pretext of a deal and killed him and buried the dead body in Prayagraj.
The mafia in UP has been running the gang from jail itself.
- Mukhtar’s son Abbas kept meeting his wife in Chitrakoot jail
Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari was lodged in Chitrakoot’s Ragauli Jail. With the help of the staff, Abbas’s wife Nikhat kept coming to the jail without making an entry. Both used to stay together in separate rooms for 4 to 5 hours in the jail itself. In return, Abbas used to give expensive gifts to the jail officials. All this went on for 85 days. When the matter came to light, 7 officers including the superintendent and the jailer were suspended. Abbas was transferred to Kasganj jail and his wife was arrested. - Conspiracy of Umesh Pal murder case hatched from jail
Umesh Pal, the main witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, was shot dead on 24 February 2023. In this case, 9 people including Atiq Ahmed and his son were made accused. Police claim that the conspiracy in the Umesh murder case in Prayagraj was hatched by Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf from jail. Atiq Ahmed talked to the shooters through WhatsApp from Sabarmati Jail and Ashraf from Bareilly Jail. Outside, Atiq’s son Asad kills Umesh with the shooters.
- Munna Bajrangi was killed in Baghpat jail in 2018
Munna Bajrangi, involved in the murder of Ghazipur MLA Krishnanand Rai in UP in 2005, once emerged as a force of musclemen in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He was arrested in 2009 from Mumbai.
On 8 July 2018, Mukhtar’s aide and Purvanchal’s don Munna Bajrangi was brought to Baghpat Jail. On the morning of July 9, in front of the lonely barrack in the jail, UP’s own Don Sunil Rathi shot him. Investigation revealed that Sunil Rathi had shown Munna’s dead body to someone by making a video call from his mobile. In 2020, on the petition of Munna’s wife, the High Court handed over the investigation to the CBI, but till now the investigation has not been completed.
No matter what the prison, musclemen get every facility: Former DGP
Former UP DGP Vikram Singh says that ‘Be it Tihar or Naini, or any other jail, where Bahubali lives, he gets all kinds of facilities. Convenience means desired food and mobile phone. There is Lunghi Prison in Singapore, there is a record of how many times a prisoner coughs. Chappa-chappa is on CCTV. Everything is recorded.
‘There is not so much CCTV coverage in our jails, wherever it is, it has been crippled. Where there are mobile jammers, turn them off. There are 50 mobiles running in the jail, so let us find out how many belong to the jail staff and how many are illegitimate.
‘If there is a will to bring the mafia to the ground, everything will happen. Nothing will happen just by suspending the officers. They will be reinstated after three months. They will do the same thing by going to some other jail. Such officers should be prosecuted under 120 B (criminal conspiracy).
A case is also filed against the prisoner for taking facilities in the jail.
If a prisoner gets facilities in jail, then what action is taken against him when he is caught, I asked a jailer this question. On the request of anonymity, he said that in different cases, a case is registered against the prisoner. According to the amount of sensitive or objectionable things he gets, the stream is applied accordingly. Departmental action is taken against the officers. If found guilty, they can be suspended or even dismissed.
