Mukhtar Ansari Sentenced To Life Imprisonment By Varanasi Court In Awadhesh Rai Murder Case

UP gangster Mukhtar Ansari has been convicted in the Awadhesh Rai murder case by a court in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Awadhesh, the brother of Congress leader Ajay Rai, was shot dead on August 3, 1991, at the gate of his Lahurabir residence.

"Mukhtar has been convicted and awarded life imprisonment in the Awadhesh Rai murder case of 1991," a lawyer told reporters outside the Varanasi court.

Responding to the development, Ajay Rai said, "This is the end of our many years of waiting. I, my parents, Awadhesh's daughter and the whole family kept patience... Governments came and went and Mukhtar strengthened himself. "But we did not give up. Because of our lawyers' efforts, today the court has found Mukhtar guilty in the murder case of my brother," Rai added.

"Today, we have won after a 32-year-long battle. We welcome the verdict of the court...If any incident happens with me, its responsibility will be on the BJP government," he further added.

Lawyers said that around 1 am on August 3, 1991, Congress leader Ajay Rai and his brother were standing at the gate of their house in Varanasi when some assailants, including Ansari, came there in a car and shot Awadhesh.

Ajay Rai fired from his licensed pistol in retaliation, following which the assailants fled, leaving the car behind, they said. Awadhesh was rushed to a hospital in Kabirchaura, where doctors declared him dead.

A dreaded gangster, Ansari is a five-time MLA from the Mau Sadar assembly seat. However, he did not contest the 2022 Assembly polls but his son Abbas Ansari contested from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and won the seat.

It has to be noted that the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has an alliance with the SP.

In April, an MP/MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur had convicted jailed mafia Mukhtar Ansari in connection with a Gangsters Act case from 2007 and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.