Raising a question mark on the law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh after the death of mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari following a cardiac arrest in Banda, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said there should be a probe supervised by a Supreme Court judge into such doubtful cases.
Ansari died in the Banda Medical College due to a cardiac arrest on Thursday. He was rushed to the hospital from the district jail after his health condition deteriorated.
In a post in Hindi on X, Yadav said, "It is the foremost responsibility and duty of the government to protect someone's life in every situation and at every place."
"The death of a hostage or prisoner in any of the following circumstances will erode public confidence in the judicial process -- while confined in a police station, in a fight inside the jail, on falling ill inside the prison, while being taken to hospital, during treatment in hospital, by showing a false encounter, by showing a false suicide, by showing casualties in an accident -- all such doubtful cases should be probed under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge," he added.
"A government that cannot protect lives has no right to remain in power," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, claiming that the state is going through the worst phase of "government anarchy".
"This is the zero hour for law and order in Uttar Pradesh," he said on the microblogging platform.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati also pitched for a high-level probe into Ansari's death.
In a post in Hindi on X, she said: "The persistent apprehensions and serious allegations made by Mukhtar Anasari's family regarding his death in jail require a high-level investigation so that the true facts of his death can be revealed."
Ansari's son Umar, who arrived in Banda late on Thursday night, told reporters that his father had raised apprehensions that he was being slow-poisoned. "He was given poison with his dinner on March 19 and had apprised the court of the same," Umar Ansari said.
"We got the news of his death only through the media. We will demand a high-level inquiry and do whatever we have to do through the court. We have full confidence in the court," he said.
