Watch: Don Mukhtar Ansari gets life in jail for Awadhesh Rai murder; brother Ajay Rai says 'result 32 years of struggle'

In UP’s Varanasi, a court convicted jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the 30-year-old murder of Congress leader Awadhesh Rai and sentenced him to life in prison.

On 3 August, 1991, Congress leader and brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, Awadhesh Rai, was shot dead outside his Lahurabir residence in Varanasi.

Mukhtar who was not active in politics at that time was named alomg with Bhim Singh, former MLA Abdul Kalim, and two others, the FIR of the daylight crime. He, however, had many criminal cases lodged against him in different police stations of UP, at that time.

In Rai’s murder case, Ansari was also accused of tempering with the evidence.

Reportedly, the entire case against him was heard by the court on the basis of photocopies since the case diary went missing, making it the first case where the verdict has been pronounced on the basis of duplicate papers.

Following the announcement of his conviction, Ajay Rai, brother of deceased Awadhesh Rai told PTI, “This is the result of 32 years of hard work by us and the people who stood by us in this battle,” he said.

VIDEO | “This is the result of 32 years of hard work by us and the people who stood by us in this battle. The honourable court has found him (jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari) guilty and will pronounce the quantum of sentence at 2 pm,” says Ajay Rai, brother of Awadhesh Rai, who… pic.twitter.com/KuMYQHyHlJ

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 5, 2023

Lawyer who represented Rai in the court, told PTI that testimonials of the two eyewitnesses of the brutal murder of Awadhesh Rai played a crucial role in the conviction.

VIDEO | "It was a brutal murder in broad daylight and there were two eyewitnesses who gave their statements without being afraid of Mukhtar Ansari," says the lawyer who represented Ajay Rai in the MP/MLA court in Varanasi. pic.twitter.com/2G5kmY4Nyu

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 5, 2023

Mukhtar Ansari won assembly elections five times – 1996, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017. The last three victories came while he was in jail.

His son Abbas Ansari won the Uttar Pradesh assembly election from his stronghold Mau Sadar in 2022 from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

Ansari has 61 cases registered against him, most of which are in Ghazipur.

Recently, a court sentenced Mukhtar Ansari and his brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari to imprisonment for 10 years and four years, respectively, in a 2007 Gangsters Act case. Apart from this, sentences have also been framed on him in some other cases.

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