Mukhtar Ansari poisoned in jail, alleges brother

Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was on Tuesday hospitalised for around 14 hours in Uttar Pradesh's Banda after he complained of abdominal pain.

Principal of Rani Durgavati Medical College, Banda, Sunil Kaushal said that Ansari was admitted to hospital at around 3.45 am following "pain in the stomach and problem in urinating and excretion" .

Subsequently, his problems were resolved. "At around 5.45 pm on Tuesday, Mukhtar Ansari was discharged from the ICU ward of the medical college, and the jail administration took him back to prison," he said.

Earlier, his brother and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, who reached the hospital, alleged that he was given poison in jail.

An official statement of the prison department released in Lucknow this afternoon said, "Due to the sudden deterioration in the health of prisoner Mukhtar Ansari and falling in the toilet in the night, he was immediately given treatment by the jail doctor.

"After informing the district administration, a team of doctors was called by which the prisoner was referred to the medical college in the night itself. The prisoner was admitted to Medical College Banda under police protection where he is undergoing treatment."

Mukhtar Ansari, 60, is a five-time former MLA from Mau Sadar seat and has been behind bars in UP and Punjab since 2005. He has over 60 criminal cases pending against him. He has been sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts of UP and was lodged in the Banda jail.

His name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police last year. His family members had earlier expressed apprehension that Mukhtar Ansari could be killed in a fake encounter.

Afzal Ansari claimed on Tuesday, "Mukhtar said that he was given poisonous a substance in food in jail. This happened for the second time. Around 40 days ago also he was given poison. And recently on March 19 of March 22, he was again given this (poison) due to which his condition is bad."

Afzal Ansari said that during the virtual hearing of a case in a Barabanki court on March 21, Mukhtar's lawyer had filed an application in the court alleging that his client had been given "slow poison" in jail due to which his condition was deteriorating.

Mukhtar Ansari's son Umar Ansari alleged that he was not allowed to meet his father despite his name being on the visitors' list along with that of his uncle Afzal Ansari.

Afzal Ansari had earlier in the day told PTI, "We have got a message from Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur informing us that Mukhtar is ill and is being admitted to Medical College, Banda. Family members have been asked to come for his help."

He said he had called the Chief Minister's Office before leaving for Banda but could not contact Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is in Gorakhpur.

He said the purpose of calling the Chief Minister's Office was to request that his brother be admitted to the Medanta Hospital in Lucknow or any other big hospital if adequate arrangements are not made at Banda Medical College.

"If the government does not bear the cost of treatment, the family will bear this expense," he said.