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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
TNN

Uttar Pradesh's anti-mafia task force gets conviction of 41 gangsters, henchmen in a year

LUCKNOW: A total 12 gangsters and their 29 aides have been convicted in different crimes between January 2021 and November 2022. Police seized their properties worth Rs 2,500 crore and booked 16 under the National Security Act (NSA).

This was made possible due to the setting-up of an anti-mafia task force (AMTF) – formed under the director general of police to crack down on gangsters and ensure that they get convicted in pending cases – on the directives of CM Yogi Adityanath.

Additional director general of police, law and order, Prashant Kumar said that the mandate of the AMTF was to first identify pending cases against the listed gangsters and their henchmen in different courts of the state. It worked in coordination with the district administration and district police chiefs which led to seizure of illegal properties worth Rs 2,524 crore. Along with slapping of NSA on 16, the Gangsters Act on 405, 70 were externed and arms licences of 318 suspended.

“Thereafter, as a strategy, the force used to provide protection to the witnesses so that they timely reach court to get their statements recorded. It was also ensured that evidence from the forensic department reached prosecution on time,” the ADG said.

Kumar said that a report of this used to be tabled in front of the DGP daily. We identified 21 cases, in which, we got the conviction of 12 criminals and their 29 henchmen, the ADG said. He said that it included death sentence for two in a murder case.

The officer said that sentencing of seven-year rigorous jail term to gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court in a 2003 case of threatening and pointing a pistol at a jailer is “a major breakthrough in our relentless crusade against crime and criminals in the state”.

Ansari has 58 cases of serious crimes registered against him in different districts of UP. He is currently facing trial in 10 different cases in a Prayagraj MP-MLA court as well as cases in Azamgarh and Ghazipur courts. The AMTF is closely monitoring these cases, the ADG said.

Similarly, 83 cases against criminal Vijay Mishra, of which 17 are under trial, are also under the purview of the force.

Likewise, 43 cases registered against Sundar Bhati, of which, 17 are under trial in courts are being monitored and 74 cases against gangster Dhruv Singh, 23 of which are on trial. Khan Mubarak is named in 43 cases, of which 36 are in courts.

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