Mukhtar Ansari’s son, Abbas Ansari, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party MLA from Mau and son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was questioned for 9 hours by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday.
Abbas Ansari’s role
According to the sources, Uttar Pradesh MLA Abbas Ansari, son of jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), early on this Saturday in Prayagraj, in a money laundering case lodged last year.
Addressing his arrest, a senior ED official said that they have arrested Abbas Ansari for not cooperating with their investigation and not giving specific replies to their questions, adding that Abbas would be produced before a court.
Abbas Ansari who hails from the political territory of Uttar Pradesh and Mau Sadar Constituency reached the ED’s sub-zonal office in Prayagraj on Friday. Earlier, he had failed to appear before the ED agency despite several notices being issued. The ED had also released a lookout notice against him.
Additionally, the ED official said that during their probe, it was found that Abbas had purchased property from the money he got from Vikas Construction and a portion of the money he got is still deposited in his bank account.
The ED questioning was connected with a money laundering case registered against his father and mafia Mukhtar Ansari in March 2021.
Uttar Pradesh Political dynamics
By the early 1990s, Mukhtar Ansari was well known for his alleged criminal activities in Uttar Pradesh as he entered politics around 1995 through a student union in Banaras Hindu University, became an MLA in 1996. Mukhtar Ansari has been elected 5 times as MLA from the Mau constituency.
Mukhtar Ansari is ever under the ED’s search in connection with at least 49 criminal cases against him including those on charges of land grabbing, murder and extortion. Challenging Brijesh Singh’s dominance, he often used the used the Muslim vote bank politics to ensure his victory during the elections in the Ghazipur and Mau area.
Last year, the ED had also questioned Abbas’ 59-year-old father, former MLA Mukhtar Ansari, who is in Banda district jail, in connection with this case.
Earlier this month, the ED had attached seven immovable assets belonging to Mukhtar, whose properties are worth Rs 1.48 crore while their circle rate at the time of registration was Rs 3.42 crore.
SBSP MLA from Mau Sadar Abbas Ansari had been trying to escape his life ever since police registered a case against him for giving a provocative speech during UP assembly elections early this year. Moreover, Abbas Ansari was also declared an absconder in an arms license case by a special MP-MLA court in August.
Family’s role
Mukhtar’s brothers, BSP MP Afzal Ansari and Sibgatullah Ansari were also questioned by ED in May 2022. In August, the probe agency also raided the official residence of BSP MP Afzal Ansari in Delhi and some other locations in Ghazipur, Mau and Lucknow.
During the investigations, notices were also issued against his mother Afsha, in connection with Vikas construction case.
While Sigbatullah Ansari is a former MLA from Mohammadabad, their elder brother Afzal Ansari is a BSP MP from the Ghazipur Lok Sabha constituency.
After all the Ansari brothers were expelled from BSP in 2010, they formed the Quami Ekta Dal which later merged into the Mayawati-led BSP ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls.
In September, Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced by the Allahabad High court to undergo a jail term of 5 years and 7 years after being convicted in an Arms Act case and for threatening and pointing a gun at a jailer respectively, after which he was barred from contesting any election in the future.
According to the sources, the firm Vikas Construction is allegedly linked to Mukhtar Ansari and his family. The company was allegedly involved in encroaching upon public and government land and constructing illegal godowns on them. The godowns were constructed in Mau and Ghazipur districts of Uttar Pradesh.
