Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari passes away; Opposition demands high-level probe into death
Mukhtar Ansari passed away on Thursday night due to a cardiac arrest. Ansari, 63 had been lodged in Banda jail and was serving life imprisonment.
Ansari, was brought to the emergency department of Rani Durgavati Medical College at around 8:25 pm on Thursday after he complained of nausea and faintness. He ultimately succumbed to a cardiac arrest, according to a medical bulletin issued by the hospital. He was also admitted to the hospital on Tuesday after he complained of abdominal pain, but was discharged that evening itself. His family, including his elder brother and MP Afzal Ansari as well as his lawyer had alleged Ansari was being «slow poisoned» by the jail authorities. Soon after his death, some opposition leaders demanded a high-level enquiry into his death, taking cue from his family's allegations and some even going on to call it a «state-orchestrated murder».
Heavy deployment of forces was effected in Mau.
Ansari was a five-term MLA from Mau, representing the Bahujan Samaj Party twice, his own party Quami Ekta Dal once and contesting as an independent twice. He traced his lineage to freedom fighter and nationalist Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari- his grandfather, who had also served as the president of the Indian National Congress and was one of the founders of the Jamila Milia Islamia university. Ansari started his political career in the 1990s as a student leader in Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi and was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1996 from Mau on a BSP ticket.
While also hailed in the
