Banda (Uttar Pradesh) : Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was admitted to a hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Banda on Tuesday after he complained of abdominal pain in jail, the Banda Medical College said in a statement.
The condition of Ansari, who is currently serving life sentence, is stable according to a statement by the Rani Durgawati Medical College (RDMC). "He was admitted in RDMC Banda on March 26 at 03:55 am with complaint of pain in the abdomen and unable to pass stool and flatus for 4-5 days," the hospital said adding that the patient is being administered conservative treatment after he was admitted.
Ansari's lawyer, Naseem Haider, claimed that the former MLA in the Uttar Pradesh assembly is experiencing difficulty in speaking. "Some reports are pending. He is stable, but he is facing difficulty in speaking..." Naseem Haider said. Earlier in the day, Mukhtar's son, Umar Ansari in a social media post said that his father had been shifted to the ICU at Banda Medical College. "My father Mukhtar Ansari Saheb was admitted to the ICU of Banda Medical College just an hour ago. His condition is very serious. Please pray for him," Umar said in a Facebook post in Hindi.
Ansari has been elected as an MLA from the Mau constituency five times, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last contested the assembly polls in 2017. He has around 60 cases pending against him in UP, Punjab, New Delhi and other states.
Earlier on March 13, Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment in a case related to the use of forged documents for obtaining an arms licence in 1990. This was the eighth case in which the former five-time MLA has been convicted and sentenced by a court in Uttar Pradesh in the past two years.
The Varanasi MP/MLA court handed Ansari life imprisonment under Sections 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and seven years under Sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of IPC.
Ansari was also sentenced to six months imprisonment under Section 30 of the Arms Act. The case was lodged at Ghazipur's Mohammadabad police station against Ansari and others, alleging that they conspired to obtain a licence for a double-barrel gun with forged signatures of the then district magistrate and the superintendent of police.
After the forgery came to light, a case was filed against Ansari, the then-deputy collector, then-ordnance clerk Gaurishankar Srivastava, and four others in December 1990. A charge-sheet in the case was filed in 1997 against Ansari and Gaurishankar Srivastava.