Mukhtar Ansari: Rise & fall of mafia don with illustrious family legacy

THE death of gangster-turnedpolitician Mukhtar Ansari, who straddled the two worlds crime and politics has drawn curtains on an era of crime and terror that plagued UP, especially its eastern and central regions, for four decades.

- NAMITA BAJPAI

Mukhtar got implicated in his first criminal case in 1978 at the age of 15, followed by the first murder case in 1986, he ruled the political landscape of eastern UP by representing Mau, his constituency, and more of his fiefdom, for five terms since 1996 till 2017 through 2002, 2007, 2012.

Mukhtar had over 60 cases of multiple criminal offenses, including 16 of murder lodged against him. His gang IS 191 in police records was dubbed as the most notorious in the country by the Allahabad High Court, but his first conviction came through in September 2022. Since then, he was sentenced in eight of those over 60 cases till March 13, 2024.