Mukhtar Ansari, a gangster from Uttar Pradesh, was charge-sheeted more than 35 years ago for possessing firearms illegally. After a long wait, he has now been sentenced to life imprisonment. Reporting on the sentence, Times Of India said that Ansari has been "long synonymous with terror in numerous districts of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Punjab."
Ansari's free run was broken by the Yogi Adityanath government starting in 2017. The UP police, empowered by the CM himself, went after him ruthlessly. "The UP police have, so far, confiscated and demolished properties valued at over Rs 608 crore belonging to mafia don Mukhtar Ansari. Nearly 300 of his associates have faced legal action in the past few years, leading to a collapse of his empire," reported the news agency IANS.
In a statement, Uttar Pradesh DGP Prashant Kumar said (as reported by ANI), "The campaign against all mafias will continue till the time their empires are not destroyed. The police department is determined to create a favourable environment for investment in the state."
Ansari's association with the Samajwadi Party played a key role in the loss of its popular appeal in the Western part of UP in recent years. After the BJP rose to dominance in the State, goondaism almost disappeared on the streets of UP.
