Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest at 63

Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari today died following a heart attack. He was 60. Section 144 imposed in several districts of Uttar Pradesh and security have been beefed up in several areas -- Mau, Ghazipur, Balia and Pryagraj where the gangster had wide influence. 

Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was brought to Banda Medical College Hospital after his health deteriorated on Thursday.

Mukhtar Ansari, is a five-time former MLA from Mau Sadar seat and has been behind bars in UP and Punjab since 2005. He has over 60 criminal cases pending against him. 

Earlier on March 13, Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment in a case related to the use of forged documents for obtaining an arms licence in 1990. 

This was the eighth case in which the former five-time MLA has been convicted and sentenced by a court in Uttar Pradesh in the past two years.

Before this, in December 2023, the MP/MLA Court of Varanasi had found Mukhtar Ansari guilty of threatening Mahavir Prasad Rungta, a witness in the murder of 26-year-old coal businessman Nand Kishor Rungta, and had sentenced him to five and a half years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 against him.

On October 15, last year, the Enforcement Directorate attached lands, a building and bank deposits worth more than Rs 73.43 lakh as part of the money laundering investigation against Mukhtar Ansari. 

(with inputs from ANI)