Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s conviction in the 32-year-old Awadhesh Rai murder has put an end to his delaying tactics of disrupting the court proceedings or influencing witnesses or turning them hostile to buy time, according to experts and senior cops with the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police.
Evading conviction, Ansari served as an MLA from Mau for five consecutive terms from 1995 to 2022, and managed to retain his assembly membership for nearly 27 years.
Officials further said that in most cases in lower courts, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence, whereas in a few cases, witnesses either turned hostile or ended up giving a favourable statement. In cases where government officials were witnesses, they either retired during the prolonged trials or didn’t turn up in the court on the pretext of health issues.
On August 3, 1991, Congress leader Awadhesh Rai was shot dead outside his brother and former MLA Ajay Rai’s house in Varanasi. Ajay Rai named Ansari, Bhim Singh and former MLA Abdul Kalim in the first information report (FIR). On Monday, a court in Varanasi sentenced Ansari to life imprisonment. Rai called the judgment an outcome of patience and his consistent efforts.
“In several instances in the past three decades, Ansari tried to delay the court proceedings to evade conviction or imprisonment,” said Prashant Kumar, special director general (SDG), law and order, UP Police.