VARANASI: Land worth Rs 3.5 crore registered in the name of jailed mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s mother Rabia Khatun in Mahua Bagh area was attached by district administration and police in Ghazipur district on Sunday.
Ghazipur SP RB Singh said that under the ongoing drive against organised crime and gangsters, the 'ill-gotten' property was found registered in the name of Mukhtar’s mother at Mahua Bagh.
After examining the records, the Ghazipur DM MP Singh ordered the attachment of this property, he said.
Following the orders issued by the DM, a joint team of administration and police officials reached Mahua Bagh and attached the property.
The joint team led by CO Sadar Ojaswi Chawla reached Mahuabagh area where announcement was made about the attachment and then land revenue department staff and police completed the process of attaching the property.
Officials said the market value of the plot measuring 811 sqm is estimated to be over Rs 3.50 crore.
Under the drive targeting the economic empire of gangsters who amassed assets from crime proceeds, properties worth over Rs 60 crore in the name of Mukhtar, his family and associates have been attached in Ghazipur district in the past two and half years while constructions of over Rs 100 crore have been demolished, said officials.
Earlier, one plot worth Rs 2.15 crore in the name of Mukhtar’s wife Afsha Ansari and son Abbas Ansari in Mahuabagh area under Kotwali police station was attached on February 23 before assembly polls.
All these properties were close to Hotel Ghazal which was demolished in October 2020. This hotel was on the upper floor of the building while shops on the ground floor were given on rent. The property had been seized in December 2021.
ADG Varanasi zone Ram Kumar said the loss to Mukhtar gang’s economic empire in the region has gone above Rs 400 crore mark with the attachment of property on Sunday.
As per records, Mukhtar had constructed the hotel in 2004 but was jailed in 2005 and has not been able to come out since.
Under a sustained drive against criminal and mafia, a series of actions to destroy the economic empire of the Mukhtar gang had started from Mau district in June 2020. Apart from bulldozing buildings, seizure of movable and immovable properties, the cops kept targeting the illegal earnings of his gang through extortion, fish trade, grabbing contracts in PWD and other government departments.
Mukhtar, who kept winning assembly polls from Mau Sadar seat without fail since 1996, did not contest election this time and fielded his son Abbas Ansari who retained the seat as Suheldeo Bharatiya Samaj Party candidate.
