Uttar Pradesh's jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of a heart attack on Thursday. Earlier, reports came that he was admitted to a hospital in Banda district following a deterioration of his health condition.
According to Ansari's lawyer Naseem Haider, he was informed by the jail authorities that the gangster-turned-politician was taken to the Banda Medical College but no further information was provided.
After staying hospitalised for around fourteen hours today at the Banda Medical College, the sixty-year-old gangster-turned-politician passed away due to a cardiac arrest, principal Suneel Kaushal confirmed to PTI.
However, earlier his brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari alleged that he was given poison in jail.
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Section 144 imposed across Uttar Pradesh
There was a heavy deployment of police personnel outside the hospital shortly after Ansari was taken there.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which bars large gatherings, were imposed across Uttar Pradesh following Ansari's death, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said.
Who was Mukhtar Ansari?
Mukhtar Ansari, 63, was a five-time former MLA from Mau Sadar seat and has been behind bars in UP and Punjab since 2005. He has over 60 criminal cases pending against him. He was sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts of UP and was lodged in the Banda jail.
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His name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police last year.
