Mukhtar Ansari death: Son claims gangster-turned-politician was subject to 'slow poisoning' in jail (WATCH)
Umar Ansari, the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, alleged early Friday that his father was slowly poisoned while in jail, leading to his death from cardiac arrest at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Banda.
FollowUmar Ansari, the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, alleged early Friday that his father was slowly poisoned while in jail, leading to his death from cardiac arrest at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Banda on Thursday night. Authorities have refuted the accusation.
Mukhtar Ansari was transferred from the district jail to Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda while unconscious, where he subsequently passed away due to cardiac arrest on Thursday, according to the college's principal, Suneel Kaushal.
The 63-year-old, a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar, had been incarcerated in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005, facing over 60 pending criminal cases.
Ansari had received sentences in eight cases since September 2022 from various courts in Uttar Pradesh and was confined in Banda jail. He was also listed among the 66 gangsters identified by Uttar Pradesh Police last year.
"My father had told us he was being subjected to 'slow poison'," Umar Ansari told reporters and added that the entire country knows about it now.
On Tuesday, Mukhtar Ansari's brother and Ghazipur MP, Afzal Ansari, had alleged that Mukhtar was being subjected to "slow poisoning" while in jail.
On Friday morning, a crowd had gathered at Mukhtar Ansari's residence. Security personnel were heavily deployed around both the house and the hospital.
"We don't have any information about when the postmortem will be done. We were hoping that the postmortem would be done in the night itself and the body would be handed over to us in the morning. I don't understand why the administration is delaying it," Sibgatullah Ansari, Mukhtar Ansari's elder brother, told reporters.
When asked about the charges of "slow poisoning" levelled by Umar Ansari, he said, "...Mukhtar Ansari had informed the court through his lawyers in writing that these things are happening."
Prohibitory orders, as per Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), prohibiting large gatherings, have been enforced across the state. Additionally, extra security personnel have been deployed in districts including Banda, Mau, Ghazipur, and Varanasi.
Mukhtar Ansari, hailing from Mau, was known to wield significant influence in the adjacent districts of Ghazipur and Varanasi.
According to a medical bulletin, he was admitted to the medical college around 8:25 pm on Thursday in an unconscious state after experiencing vomiting. A team of nine doctors attended to him, but he succumbed to cardiac arrest, the bulletin reported.
Authorities at the police headquarters in Lucknow stated that Ansari's post-mortem will be conducted in Banda, with the process being videographed. They added that viscera would be preserved if necessary.
Previously, Ansari had been hospitalized for approximately 14 hours on Tuesday due to complaints of abdominal pain.
On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar announced the enforcement of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC statewide. Teams comprising both the Central Reserve Police Force and local police have been stationed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur, and Varanasi.
Furthermore, the social media cell of the Uttar Pradesh Police has been mobilized to monitor online activities of unlawful elements, as stated by the police chief.
