Mukhtar Ansari was subjected to slow poisoning in jail: Son
Lucknow (PTI): Mukhtar Ansari was subjected to slow poisoning in jail, Umar Ansari, the son of the gangster-turned-politician who died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Banda, alleged early Friday.
The charge has been denied by authorities.
Mukhtar Ansari was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in "an unconscious state" and, according to its principal Suneel Kaushal, he died at the hospital following cardiac arrest on Thursday.
The 63-year-old was a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar. He had been behind bars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005. He had over 60 criminal cases pending against him.
Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts in Uttar Pradesh and was lodged in the Banda jail. His name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police last year.
"My father had told us he was being subjected to 'slow poison'," Umar Ansari told reporters and added that the entire country knows about it now.
Mukhtar Ansari's brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari had on Tuesday alleged that he was being subjected to "slow poisoning" in jail.
On Friday morning, people had gathered at the Mukhtar Ansari's residence. There was a large deployment of security personnel around the house as well as the hospital.
"We don't have any information about when the postmortem will be done. We were hoping that the postmortem would be done in the night itself and the body would be handed over to us in the morning. I don't understand why the administration is delaying it," Sibgatullah Ansari, Mukhtar Ansari's elder brother, told reporters.
When asked about the charges of "slow poisoning" levelled by Umar Ansari, he said, "...Mukhtar Ansari had informed the court through his lawyers in writing that these things are happening."
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which bars large gatherings, have been imposed across the state and additional security personnel deployed in the Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi districts.
Mukhtar Ansari, who hailed from Mau, was believed to have a strong influence in the adjoining Ghazipur and Varanasi districts as well.
According to a medical bulletin, he was brought to the medical college around 8.25 pm on Thursday in an unconscious state after he had complained of vomiting. A team of nine doctors attended to him but he died of cardiac arrest, it stated.
Officials at the police headquarters in Lucknow said Ansari's post-mortem will be done in Banda and it will be videographed. The viscera will be preserved if needed, they said.
Earlier, Ansari was hospitalised for around 14 hours on Tuesday after he complained of abdominal pain.
Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar had said on Thursday that prohibitory orders under the section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed across the state and teams of the Central Reserve Police Force along with the local police deployed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi.
The social media cell of the Uttar Pradesh Police has also been activated to keep a close watch on unlawful elements online, the police chief had said.
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Top leaders of INDIA bloc will scramble for PM's post if it comes to power: Amit Shah
Jhanjarpur (Bihar), Apr 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday warned that a victory of the opposition INDIA bloc, “even by mistake”, will lead to a scramble among top leaders of the alliance for the prime minister’s post.
Shah claimed that leaders like M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee may agree to a year each of premiership, by turns, and “Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) will have to settle for whatever is left of the tenure”.
In contrast, he said, “a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead to elimination of corruption from the entire country, including Bihar, and eradication of casteism in the state”.
“Modi’s return to power is certain. But, suppose, even by mistake, if the INDIA alliance comes to power, what will happen? Who will be the prime minister? Will it be Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee or Rahul Gandhi? They will all settle for sharing the top post for a year each. Is it how the country can be run?” Shah said.
The senior BJP leader, who addressed election rallies in Jhanjharpur and Begusarai Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar, also charged the opposition bloc with seeking restoration of triple talaq.
"Should we have triple talaq? INDI alliance leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad say they will protect Muslim Personal Law. They should forget their plans. The BJP government will implement a Uniform Civil Code across the country,” Shah asserted.
Claiming that Modi’s victory and a third term in office were certain, he also cautioned against "political instability" that may follow if the INDIA coalition manages to form a government “even by mistake”.
"We need a leadership that is strong and not helpless. If the INDIA alliance comes to power... M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad, all of them may become PM for a year each. Rahul baba will settle for whatever is left of the tenure,” Shah said.
The home minister, who is often credited with abrogation of Article 370, also accused the Congress and its allies with having protected special status to Jammu and Kashmir like an "auras Putra” (one's own offspring).
"Rahul Gandhi had tried to scare us by claiming that scrapping Article 370 will cause rivers of blood to flow. But, when the Modi government made the move, nobody even dared to throw a pebble,” said Shah.
Slamming Gandhi for his “new-found concern for OBCs”, the home minister said “the Congress party has always been against the Other Backward Classes. It had opposed the Mandal Commission. Modi has emerged from among the OBCs and the community has been empowered during his tenure as never before”.
He also showered encomiums on Modi for abrogation of Article 370 and strong counter-terrorism steps like surgical strikes in contrast with the previous Congress-led UPA regime, “when for 10 years, terrorists struck at will”.
Attacking the opposition for alleging misuse of central agencies, Shah said, “Should there be no action against the corrupt? Whoever is found guilty of swindling money meant for the poor people of the country, must be in jail”.
He also said the opposition camp had neither leaders nor resolve, alleging “Sonia Gandhi’s sole concern is making her son the prime minister, while Lalu Prasad wants to make his son the chief minister of Bihar”.
Shah alleged that the Congress and the RJD supremo did not give due respect to former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, but the BJP recognised his contribution and conferred the Bharat Ratna on him.
In Begusarai, where Union minister Giriraj Singh seeks to retain the seat for BJP, Shah mockingly referred to main rival CPI as "laal bhai" and urged the people to vote for the sitting MP "in huge numbers so that the next time they do not muster the courage to enter the fray".
