Luxury suite, handpicked officials, how jailhouse rocked
He ordered killings, managed contracts from jail over the last 19 years. Twentyseven of the 65 cases against him were filed when he was behind bars
LUCKNOW: Gangster-turnedpolitician Mukhtar Ansari, who died following a cardiac arrest on Thursday night, spent the last 19 years in different jails of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab after his arrest for allegedly inciting riots in Mau in 2005 but his clout grew bigger over the years and he operated his gang from behind bars.
Twenty-seven criminal cases, including six murders, of the 65 cases against him were filed when he was in prison. He had a nearly 45-year criminal history dating back to 1978.
He was also accused as the main conspirator in the sensational killing of the then sitting BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in Ghazipur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh on November 29, 2005. He was lodged in Ghazipur jail after he surrendered in the Mau riots case in October 2005 nearly six weeks before Rai’s killing.
Requesting anonymity, a retired jail official said there are multiple stories of Mukhtar Ansari, which proved his clout in jails.
Ansari had once pointed a revolver at the Lucknow district jailor when objections were raised over his frequent visitors in jail in 2003, the retired official said.
Ansari, a five-time former MLA, was later sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on September 21, 2022, in the same case.
“One of the astonishing incidents of Mukhtar Ansari was when he got a pond dug up inside the Ghazipur district jail while being lodged there in 2005 so that he could easily get fish in his daily meal,” recalled former UP director general of police (DGP) and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal.
“The then superintendent of police and the district magistrate, who had the basic responsibility to ensure jail norms, used to play badminton with him,” Brij Lal added.
He said Ansari provided patronage to many criminals in Ghazipur and they spent their days safely inside jail.
He said Mukhtar Ansari’s barrack number 10 in Ghazipur was modified as a luxury suite with a western toilet and an air conditioner.
Ansari used to get food from outside and used mobile phones with ease inside jail, he added.
His telephonic conversation about Rai’s murder was intercepted while he was lodged in Ghazipur jail in 2005.
Another jail official said Mukhtar Ansari’s aides used to get arrested and be lodged in the same jail as him whenever he was shifted. Besides, jail personnel of his choice were posted when he was moved.
This official said Ansari’s clout remained intact irrespective of the party in power in the state.
“He secretly got (himself) transferred to Punjab’s Ropad jail from Banda jail on a production warrant in a fake extortion case got registered against himself
Wife Afsha Ansari -11
Elder son Abbas Ansari-08
Younger son Umar Ansari -06
Abbas’s wife Nikhat Ansari-01
Elder brother Afzal Ansari-07
Second brother Sibgatullah Ansari-03 Sister’s husband Ejazul Haq-04 Cousin brother Masoor Ansari- 06 Cousin brother Gaus Moinuddin-02
in Mohali. He remained in Ropad jail from January 2019 to April 2021 for nearly 26 months. The then senior jail official helped him by not letting the state government authorities know about his shifting. The UP government get his custody on the intervention of Supreme Court and (he was) brought
Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afsha Ansari carries a reward of Rs 1 lakh in cases lodged against her in Mau and Gazipur while his elder son Abbas Ansari is lodged in jail since August 2022 in a money laundering case registered by ED.
back to Banda jail,” the official said.
He added that no jailor was ready to take the charge of Banda jail when he was shifted from Punjab jail in April 2021 and the post remained vacant for nearly 18 months.
Neither jail officials nor inmates dared to resist him, he further said.
He also alleged CCTVs of jails were switched off whenever Mukhtar’s aides come to meet him in jails or whenever he used to move out of his barrack and sit in the open.
ANSARI’S AIDES USED TO GET ARRESTED AND BE LODGED IN THE SAME JAIL AS HIM WHENEVER HE WAS SHIFTED. HE USED TO GET FOOD FROM OUTSIDE AND USED MOBILE PHONES WITH EASE INSIDE JAIL.