Don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who has been lodged in Banda jail suffered a heart attack when he was meeting with his wife and sons on Tuesday.
Seeing his condition, his wife, Afshan, fell unconscious and it is said that she suffered a minor stroke. Owing to his deteriorating condition, Mukhtar was immediately referred to PGI, Lucknow, in critical condition and was admitted to the hospital late in the evening.
A BSP MLA from the eastern UP district of Mau, Mukhtar belongs to nearby Gazipur district and has been in Banda jail from March 30, 2017. On Tuesday, Afshan along with his sons, Abbas and Umar Ansari, had gone to see him in Banda jail.
Soon after having tea with family, Mukhtar complained of experiencing chest pain and became unconscious. He was sweating a lot. Seeing her husband’s condition, Afshan too started having pain in the chest and fainted.
Professor Rakesh Kapoor, director PGI, said that Mukhtar had suffered a heart attack but he is stable now. His wife has been discharged after preliminary treatment. The doctors attending to him revealed that he is suffering from diabetes too.
Meanwhile, principal secretary (home) has sought a report in this connection.
Mukhtar is the grandson of Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, a former president of the INC. In the late 70s, when regional gangs were fighting for supremacy in eastern UP, Mukhtar Ansari was with the Makhanu Singh gang.
In the 1990s, he clashed with the Brijesh Singh gang for the control of the Rs 100 crore contract business in the fields of coal mining, railway construction, scrap disposal, public works and liquor business. The gangs were also involved in collecting protection money (goonda tax).
Mukhtar became a known name in the crime world in the early 90s in eastern UP. He became an MLA in 1996. The gangs of Brijesh and Mukhtar clashed many times and in one such clash, Brijesh was critically wounded. This established Mukhtar’s supremacy. Mukhtar’s name figured in the murder of an eastern UP politician Krishananad Rai, who had defeated Mukhtar's brother and five-time MLA Afzal Ansari from the Mohammadabad in the 2002 polls.
In 2008, Ansari was booked for ordering an attack on Dharmendra Singh, a witness in a murder case. There are many criminal cases running against him at present.
