For 3 decades, Mukhtar Ansari stalled court hearings to evade imprisonment, conviction

LUCKNOW For over three decades, mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is accused in more than 50 criminal cases, resorted to delaying tactics to stall court proceedings, thereby evading imprisonment and conviction. According to officials, he stonewalled the efforts of courts to frame charges against him even after being named in several chargesheets.

“Ansari’s delaying tactics finally fell short in September last year when the Allahabad High Court overturned the local court’s order to acquit him and awarded him a seven-year jail term in the case relating to threatening the then jailor of Lucknow district jail SK Awasthi in 2003. Subsequently, he was convicted and sentenced in three other criminal cases. Parallelly, court proceedings were expedited in nine other cases after charges were framed against him,” said Prashant Kumar, special director general (SDG), law and order, U.P. Police.

Sharing further details, additional director general (ADG) of U.P. police prosecution wing, Ashutosh Pandey, said Ansari used delaying tactics to evade the framing of charges against him in the cases he feared conviction. He added that Ansari, who served as the MLA from Mau constituency for five consecutive terms from 1995 to 2022, managed to retain his assembly membership for nearly 27 years by not getting convicted in any of the cases using dilly-dallying tactics.

The senior cop added that Ansari, who is currently lodged in Banda jail, did not contest the 2022 assembly polls and handed over the baton to his elder son Abbas Ansari. And while Abbas was elected MLA from the same constituency in 2022 assembly election, he is also lodged in the Kasganj jail in a disproportionate assets case registered against him by Enforcement Directorate.

‘Lack’ of evidence led to acquittals

“Lower courts acquitted Mukhtar Ansari in most of the cases due to a lack of evidence. Many-a-time, witnesses would turn hostile fearing for their lives. Besides, in a few cases, they were allegedly paid to make a ‘favourable’ statement. Consequently, at least 25 criminal cases are still pending against him,” added the ADG.

Pandey further said that Ansari was charge-sheeted along with half-a-dozen of his aides in several cases but each of them used to hire separate lawyers to delay the process of the framing of charges against him. “Their lawyers used to skip court dates to evade framing of charges against them by citing personal or medical reasons. Whenever a judge asked their lawyers to remain present for the framing of charges, they would ensure that courts in distant districts fixed the same date in connection with some other pending case,” said the senior cop.

ADG Pandey added, “Before getting convicted for the first time in September last year, Ansari got acquittal in several cases as witnesses turned hostile. While some of the witnesses died during the course of the trial, many others stopped pursuing the case after losing the hope for justice due to the delay.”

The official also pointed out that delay tactics helped Mukhtar and his aides to evade conviction in many cases where government servants like police officers were witnesses. Many of these witnesses retired from service or died during the trial, which went on for decades. Retired officers usually don’t turn up in courts due to health issues.

Citing a case of Ansari’s delay tactics, the ADG said charges were framed against him nearly after 32 years ago on July 16, 2022, in the case pending against him at MP/MLA court since 1990. Similarly, charges were framed against him in another 1997 case registered at Bhelupur police station, Varanasi, after nearly 24 years on August 24, 2021.

In another case registered against Mukhtar at Jagdishpura police station of Agra in 1999, charges could only be framed after 23 years on October 8, 2022, said Pandey. Apart from this, charges were framed against Ansari after 21 years on March 28, 2021 in yet another case registered against him with Alambagh police station of Lucknow in 2000. Also, charges were framed in four other cases registered against him in 2020 and 2021.

Fell like a house of cards

While the attempts of Mukhtar’s legal team managed to save him for decades using lacunae in the judicial system, his world crashed like a house of cards after charges were framed against him in several cases. “The prosecution cell started monitoring cases aggressively to counter Ansari’s delay tactics since 2020 and got charges framed in old cases pending against him. Thereafter, he was convicted in four cases back-to-back as courts also expedited the proceedings after the framing of charges,” the ADG said.

Most recently, the Ghazipur MP/MLA court gave Ansari 10 years of imprisonment in the 2007 case lodged under Gangster Act in connection with the killing of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in November 2005 and kidnapping and murder of businessman and BJP leader Nand Kishore Rungta in January 1997. Mukhtar’s MP brother Afzal Ansari was also imprisoned for four years.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh and ₹1 lakh on Mukhtar and Afzal, respectively. On December 15, 2022, Mukhtar was convicted in another case lodged under the Gangster Act. This case was filed at the City Kotwali police station of Ghazipur district in 1999. Hearing the case, the Ghazipur MP/MLA court sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment.