A special court in Ghazipur district on Friday sentenced former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and gangster Mukhtar Ansari to 10-year imprisonment in a 2009 Gangster Act case. The MP/MLA special court also slapped a fine of ₹5 lakh on Ansari. It awarded a five-year imprisonment to Sonu Yadav, a co-accused in the case, and a penalty of ₹2 lakh.
The quantum of the sentence was pronounced a day after the duo was found guilty in the case. The Uttar Pradesh police had booked Ansari, a former five-time MLA, under Section 3(1) of the Gangster Act for plotting a conspiracy to kill Kapil Dev Singh. Singh was murdered in 2009.
This is the sixth case in the last year where Ansari has been convicted by the Uttar Pradesh courts. In June, the Varanasi court sentenced the former MLA to life imprisonment in the murder of Awadhesh Rai, brother of the State Congress chief Ajay Rai.
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Earlier in April, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for kidnapping Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Nand Kishore Rungta and the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.
The State police hailed its operation conviction for timely persuading cases against Mr. Ansari, leading to repeated convictions. “Figuring Mukhtar Ansari as a mafia the police headquarters and the government is continuously persuading against him. Due to which, the accused has been convicted in six cases within the last one year,” a statement issued by the police read.
