Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was on Monday awarded life imprisonment sentence in connection with the 1991 Awadesh Rai murder case by a special MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh.
The case pertains to the August 3, 1991 incident in which Congress leader and the brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, Awadhesh Rai was shot dead outside Ajay Rai’s residence in Varanasi.
Speaking about it, advocate Vikash Singh said, “Ansari was presented before the court through video conference where the court convicted him under Sections 145 and 302.”
Meanwhile, Ajay Rai, reacting to the court’s judgment said, “Today, we have won after a 32-year-long battle. We welcome the verdict of the court...If anything happens to me the responsibility will lie on the BJP government.”
While awaiting the court to pronounce the quantum of sentence earlier, Rai had said, “We have faith in the judicial system. We hope he gets the maximum possible punishment. Mafia Mukhtar Ansari tried to tamper with the evidence several times.”
The special court reserved its order earlier when it concluded the hearing on May 19 after arguments were presented and fixed June 5 as the date to pronounce the verdict. Ajay Rai had named Mukhtar Ansari, Bhim Singh and former MLA Abdul Kalim in the FIR in the case pertaining to the killing of Awadesh Rai.
Ghazipur MP-MLA Court acquitted Mukhtar Ansari accused in a case of conspiracy of a murder attempt in Uttar Pradesh’s Mohammadabad area in the district on May 17.
Mir Hasan had filed a case of attempt to murder against Ansari under IPC Sec 120B in 2009. A case under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered against Ansari at Mohammadabad Police Station in Ghazipur.
