Lucknow: When jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of a heart attack in Banda last year, many believed it was a blow to the nexus between crime and politics in eastern Uttar Pradesh. But a year later, the former five-time MLA’s family is in the headlines again. Lucknow police last week arrested his younger son, Umar Ansari, for allegedly submitting forged documents in court to reclaim his father’s seized properties.
Some said the timing of Umar’s arrest was no coincidence. The arrest came as Umar was reportedly preparing to contest the upcoming bypolls for the Mau Assembly seat, a constituency the family has held for the past 29 years.
The seat fell vacant after Umar’s older brother, Abbas Ansari, was disqualified as an MLA from the owing to his conviction in a hate speech case in June this year. Abbas won the seat in 2022 on a Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) ticket, when the party was aligned with the Samajwadi Party. The SBSP is now part of the BJP-led alliance.
Mukhtar’s elder brother, Afzal Ansari, the Member of Parliament from Ghazipur, linked Umar’s arrest to the upcoming Mau bypoll, claiming Umar enjoys strong public support.
He said that Umar was being targeted to break his spirit, but the family wasn’t afraid. “He doesn’t drink, doesn’t have any disputes with anyone—all he does is twirl his moustache, and that alone bothers some people,” he said.
According to Afzal, Umar was staying at his elder brother Abbas Ansari’s official residence in Lucknow when the police picked him up. “I was in Delhi for the Parliament session when I heard about the incident. I was informed that a case had been filed that evening, and based on that, Umar was arrested. The police’s bias is not hidden now.”
Police registered a criminal case against Umar in Ghazipur. He was taken into custody and later transferred there. Officials said Umar has been accused of trying to illegally reclaim a property that had been seized under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.
Investigators claim Umar filed a petition in court seeking the release of the confiscated property, but during document verification, it was allegedly found that he submitted forged papers with fake signatures of his mother, Afsa Ansari, who has been on the run for years.
Uttar Pradesh police officials ThePrint spoke to said Umar will either have to admit to forging the signatures himself or reveal that he had been in contact with Afsa. They added that properties worth an estimated Rs 200 crore linked to the late Mukhtar Ansari and his associates have either been seized, freed or demolished so far.
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Ansari political dynasty under siege
The Ansari family has dominated the local political landscape for decades.
Mukhtar Ansari was born into a prominent Muslim family: His father, Haji Subhanullah Ansari, was a Communist leader, and his grandfather, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, was a Congress leader and freedom fighter.
Mukhtar got into student politics while studying at Post Graduate College, Ghazipur. He took the political plunge officially in 1996 when he won an election on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.
Mukhtar held the Mau Sadar seat from 1996, winning twice on a BSP ticket (1996 and 2017), twice as an independent (2002 and 2007), and once as a Quami Ekta Dal candidate in 2012. He died of a cardiac arrest in Banda jail in March 2024.
Having initially worked in property and contracts, by the early 1990s he became synonymous with land deals and tender-related gang wars in eastern Uttar Pradesh—especially Ghazipur, Mau, and Varanasi.
In 2005, Mukhtar was accused in the daylight murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and six others. This was widely seen as a revenge killing, as Rai had defeated Mukhtar’s brother, Afzal, in the 2002 elections. However, in 2019, a CBI court acquitted Mukhtar and others in the case. Since 2020, the UP police have intensified action against the Ansari gang.
After arresting Umar Ansari, Uttar Pradesh police have now intensified their efforts to trace Afsa Ansari who has been on the run for years and did not appear publicly even after her husband’s death. According to Uttar Pradesh police officials, Afsa Ansari is a wanted accused in several cases and carries a reward of Rs 1 lakh on her head.
In April this year, Ghazipur district police urged the people to provide any information that could assist in her arrest. Separate rewards of Rs 50,000 each have been announced by the police departments of both Ghazipur and Mau districts.
All eyes on the family bastion
With Umar’s arrest and Abbas’s disqualification, the Ansari family is struggling to hold on to its family stronghold.
Moreover, with Afsa Ansari, the wife of Mukhtar Ansari, on the run, the Ansari family is finding it difficult to decide on a candidate for the upcoming bye-election. Currently, two names are being considered: Nusrat Ansari, daughter of Afzal Ansari, and Nikhat Ansari, wife of Abbas Ansari.
Nusrat, who is also a theatre artist, became actively involved in the political scene last year while campaigning for her father in the Ghazipur parliamentary elections.
Nikhat, on the other hand, was released from jail in 2023 after being arrested for unlawfully entering the prison to meet her husband, Abbas Ansari.
Sources suggested a final call will be taken after Afzal meets Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The BJP sees this as an opportunity to capture a seat that has been a stronghold of Mukhtar Ansari and his family for nearly 30 years. Party insiders say the BJP has already activated its organisational network in the Muslim-dominated constituency.
The strategy, sources say, is to replicate the momentum seen in similar bypoll wins in Muslim-majority seats like Rampur (2022) and Kundarki (2024).
Currently, two members of the Ansari family hold elected positions in Parliament and the state assembly. Afzal Ansari, Mukhtar’s brother, won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Ghazipur constituency. Another family member, Suhaib Ansari, serves as an MLA in Uttar Pradesh, representing the Mohammadabad constituency. He is the son of former MLA Sibghatullah Ansari and the nephew of Mukhtar and Afzal Ansari.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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