Mukhtar Ansari: The grandson of India's freedom fighter who took to crime

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Jamia Millia Islamia and also the post of Chancellor at the university. ALSO READ: Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies: A look at the life and times of the 'Bahubali’ of eastern UP "He (Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari) had a long association with the Congress, as its president (1927), its secretary for several years, and as a member of the Congress Working Committee throughout his life," his profile on Jamia's website read. ALSO READ: Judicial inquiry ordered in Mukhtar Ansari's death amid ‘slow poison’ claims Meanwhile, Mukhtar Ansari's maternal grandfather Mohammad Usman was a brigadier in the Indian Army.

He was known as the ‘Lion of Nowshera’ and was a Mahavir Chakra awardee. He died in the Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir during a conflict with Pakistan in 1948, earning the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously, the Hindustan Times reported. Five-time Utter Pradesh MLA Ansari got into crime to establish himself and his gang in the government contract mafia that was then flourishing in the state, news agency PTI reported.

ALSO READ: First-hand account: A visit to ‘Phatak’, Mukhtar Ansari’s family home in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur It was in 1978 when he was first booked for criminal intimidation at Saidpur Police Station of Ghazipur. Almost a decade later in 1986, a case of murder was lodged against him at Muhammad Police Station of Ghazipur. By then, he had become a well-known face in the contract mafia circle.

Over the next decade, Ansari became a common face of crime with at least 14 more cases under serious charges lodged against him. His growing criminal graph, however, did not hinder his entry into politics. From 2005, till his death, Ansari was lodged in different jails in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.