Mukhtar Ansari’s family says he was poisoned in prison, says he will go to court

Mukhtar Ansari death news: Mukhtar Ansari will undergo autopsy today (File)

New Delhi:

Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh late last night.

Ansari was rushed to Banda Hospital after he fell unconscious at the district jail at around 8:45 pm. He died of cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment at Rani Durgavati Medical College.

Mukhtar Ansari has been in jails in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh since 2005, where his family claims he was poisoned.

“Mukhtar said he was poisoned with a poisonous substance in food in prison. This was the second time it happened. About 40 days ago, he was also poisoned. Most recently, on March 19, he was poisoned again “So his condition is very bad,” Press Trust of India quoted his brother Afzal Ansari as saying.

Mukhtar Ansari’s son Omar also claimed that his father poisoned the food and said he would file a lawsuit in court. “We have said this before, and we will say the same thing even today. On March 19, he was poisoned in his dinner. We will file a lawsuit with the judiciary, and we are confident about it…” he said.

Following his death, security was tightened outside the hospital and prohibitory orders were imposed across the state to maintain law and order.

Special forces have also been deployed in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi districts, where Ansari allegedly wields influence through criminal syndicates, officials said.

Ansari’s autopsy will be conducted at Banda Medical College Hospital today.

Ansari was also admitted to the hospital in the early hours of Tuesday and was discharged nearly 14 hours later. The prison service said Ansari’s health deteriorated because he fasted during Ramadan and fell in the bathroom.

Ansari, a five-term former lawmaker for Mau province, faces 61 criminal cases, 15 of which involve murder charges.

He joined a gang in the 1980s and then formed his own gang in the 1990s. The gang is involved in extortion and kidnapping in Mau, Gazipur, Varanasi and Jaunpur districts.