Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of heart attack; Section 144 imposed in Prayagraj, Mau

Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died at the Banda Medical College in Uttar Pradesh after suffering a heart attack on Thursday. Sources told India Today that Ansari, who had been lodged in Banda jail, suffered a heart attack and fell in his barrack. He was admitted to a hospital in Banda.

An alert has been issued in Lucknow, Mau, Ghazipur, and Varanasi. Security is being tightened in parts of Uttar Pradesh. Section 144 has been imposed in Ghazipur, Prayagraj, and Mau, the region where he had significant clout.    

In a medical bulletin, the Banda Medical College said Ansari was admitted at 8:25 pm. 

This was the second time in two days his health condition had worsened. On Tuesday, Ansari, 63, was hospitalised for around 14 hours in Banda after he complained of abdominal pain. However, he was later discharged and the jail administration took him back to prison.

Earlier, his brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari alleged that he was given poison in jail.

Mukhtar Ansari was a five-time former MLA from Mau Sadar seat and had been behind bars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005. He had over 60 criminal cases pending against him. He had been sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts of UP and was lodged in the Banda jail.

Ansari's name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police last year. His family members had earlier expressed apprehension that Mukhtar Ansari could be killed in a fake encounter.

Afzal Ansari claimed on Tuesday, "Mukhtar said that he was given poisonous a substance in food in jail. This happened for the second time. Around 40 days ago also he was given poison. And recently on March 19 of March 22, he was again given this (poison) due to which his condition is bad." 

Afzal Ansari said that during the virtual hearing of a case in a Barabanki court on March 21, Mukhtar's lawyer had filed an application in the court alleging that his client had been given "slow poison" in jail due to which his condition was deteriorating.

Born in 1963, Ansari had been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Mau constituency five times, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last contested the Assembly polls in 2017.