Ghazipur: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member of parliament Afzal Ansari faces disqualification from Lok Sabha after an MP-MLA Court here on Saturday convicted and sentenced him to four years imprisonment in a Gangsters Act case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on Afzal Ansari.
As per Parliament norms, any member sentenced to two years or more in prison automatically stands disqualified.
Earlier in the day, the same court convicted and sentenced Afzal’s younger brother, jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, to 10 years in in the same Gangsters Act case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on Mukhtar Ansari.
It may be noted that a case was registered against Mukhtar and Afzal under the Gangster Act for their involvement in the murder of Bharatiya Janata party legislator Krishnanand Rai in 2005 and kidnapping of businessman Nandkishore Rungta in 1996.
Afzal Ansari, his brother Mukhtar Ansari and brother-in-law Ejazul Haque were booked under the Gangster Act in 2007 in this case. Ejazul Haque has passed away. The hearing in this case was completed on April 1
Earlier, the decision in this case was to come on April 15, but later the date was extended to April 29.
Earlier, wife of Krishnanand Rai said that the rule of mafia has ended in Uttar Pradesh and that she has faith in the judiciary.
“I believe in the judiciary. Rule of Goondas, Mafias have ended (in the state),” Alka Rai said.
In January, the police registered a murder case against Mukhtar Ansari in connection to the 2001 ‘Usri Chatti’ gang war incident.
A case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Ansari at PS Mohammadabad in Ghazipur.
On January 18, Allahabad High Court dismissed the March 15 order of the Ghazipur MP-MLA Court, which allowed Ansari to be kept in a superior-class jail in Banda.
While giving the order, the court had said the order of the special court is without jurisdiction, and gangster, dreaded criminal Bahubali Ansari is not legally entitled to get a superior class in jail.
On December 15, Ansari and his aide Bhim Singh were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Gangster Court in Ghazipur in five cases related to murder and attempt to murder.
The cases include the murder of constable Raghuvansh Singh and a murderous assault on an additional SP of Ghazipur among others.
On September 21, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court convicted Mukhtar Ansari and sentenced him for threatening jailer SK Awasthi and pointing a pistol at him. The case dates to 2003 when Lucknow district prison jailer SK Awasthi lodged an FIR saying that he was threatened to order a search of the people who came to meet Ansari in prison.
On September 23, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court sentenced him to five years in a case registered in 1999 under the Gangster Act. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on Mukhtar in this 23-year-old case.
