As the funeral of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari was held on Saturday, a video of his brother MP Afzal Ansari’s heated argument with Aryaka Akhoury, District Magistrate (DM), Ghazipur, over the last rites has gone viral on social media.
Ansari died of cardiac arrest at UP’s Banda Medical College on Thursday. Thousands from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur and the neighbouring districts gathered at Kali Bagh graveyard in Mohammadabad town for the last rites on Saturday.
As Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which prevented the assembly for more than four people, was imposed, Akhoury and other administrative officials were handling the arrangements at the graveyard and managing the entry of the people at the burial site. “The debate was about a burial ritual in which soil is poured on the grave by those who attend the funeral,” an administrative official said.
Akhoury stood against the MP, saying no prior permission was sought to carry out the ritual. On the DM’s remark, the MP said that, “No prohibitory orders can stop people from participating in the ritual.”
Responding to him, the DM said, “As Section 144 is in place, I cannot allow the entire town to participate in the ritual. Only the family members can perform the ritual.”