UP court orders probe into Mukhtar Ansari’s death, seeks report within 30 days

A chief judicial magistrate's court in Uttar Pradesh's Banda on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari. Ansari, 63, was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in "an unconscious state" on Thursday evening and died at the hospital following a cardiac arrest.

A judicial investigation was ordered by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, shortly after the death of Mukhtar Ansari, a gangster-turned-politician, in jail due to cardiac arrest. According to PTI, the court instructed an additional CJM to lead the investigation into Ansari’s death and deliver the findings within a month.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (MP/MLA Court), Banda, Garima Singh, has been appointed as the investigating officer to conduct a thorough inquiry into the matter. Garima's task is to ensure that the judicial inquiry adheres to prescribed rules and regulations, with the expectation of submitting the inquiry report within one month.

The son of Mukhtar Ansari, Umar Ansari, stated earlier in the day that his father had been deliberately poisoned slowly while imprisoned. Addressing reporters, Umar Ansari stated, “My father had told us he was being subjected to slow poisoning,” Umar Ansari told reporters, adding that the entire country knows about it now.

Meanwhile, numerous Uttar Pradesh districts have put in place stricter security measures. Director General of Police for Uttar Pradesh Prashant Kumar said that prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC are being enforced throughout, and that security personnel have been placed on alert. According to PTI, teams from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been stationed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur, and Varanasi in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies.

Mukhtar Ansari, aged 60 and convicted in eight cases over the past two years, had been incarcerated in Banda jail. A five-time MLA from Mau constituency in eastern Uttar Pradesh, he had a lengthy criminal record, with a total of 65 cases registered against him across various police stations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.