Gangster-politician gets life term for 1991 murder

Mukhtar Ansari

Varanasi's MP-MLA court on Monday awar-ded life sentence to gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the murder of a Congress leader's brother 32 years ago. Awadhesh Rai, the brother of Congress's Ajay Rai, was shot dead on August 3, 1991, at the gate of his residence in Varanasi. A case was registered against Ansari and others.

Ajay is now a regional chief of his party's Uttar Pradesh unit. Welcoming the verdict, he said, "This is the end of our 32-year struggle against a notorious criminal. My parents, I, 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," he said.

Ansari's counsel said they would appeal in a higher court after going through the verdict.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever