In a significant development, gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari has been handed a life sentence by a special Varanasi court in a three-decade-old fake gun license case. The MP-MLA court, presided over by Judge Awanish Gautam, also imposed a hefty fine amounting to ₹2 lakh on Ansari, under various penal provisions, as confirmed by district government counsel Vinay Singh.
The case against Ansari dates back to December 1990, when it was registered under sections 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with provisions of the Arms Act, at Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur district.
Despite being incarcerated in Banda Jail, Ansari participated in the court proceedings via video conference. The prosecution presented evidence suggesting that Ansari had approached the district magistrate of Ghazipur in June 1987, seeking a gun license. Subsequently, he obtained the license by forging the signatures of the then-district magistrate and superintendent of police.
Following the exposure of the fraud, the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) initiated legal action against Ansari, along with the then-deputy collector and five others. The charge sheet was filed in 1997, implicating Ansari and the then-ordnance clerk Gaurishankar Srivastava. However, upon Srivastava’s demise, the case against him was dropped.
Mukhtar Ansari, born in 1963, has a long history in politics, having been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Mau constituency five times, including two terms as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate. Despite facing legal challenges, Ansari has maintained a prominent presence in Uttar Pradesh politics, contesting and winning assembly polls multiple times.
With this latest development, Ansari’s legal woes continue to mount, adding to the approximately 60 pending cases against him across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, New Delhi, and other states. This sentencing underscores the judicial system’s commitment to upholding the rule of law and ensuring accountability, even in cases that span decades.
Sources By Agencies