From Champion Shooter to Jailbird: What Triggered Mau MLA Abbas Ansari’s Transition? – News18

Uttar Pradesh (UP) MLA Abbas Ansari attended the ‘fatiha’ ceremony of his father Mukhtar Ansari, who died on March 28, at the graveyard in Mohammadabad town of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district. Abbas, who couldn’t attend his father’s burial since he was lodged in Kasganj Jail, broke into tears as he reached the grave and offered prayers, said locals. Sources close to the family also shared with News18 some little-known chapters in the life of Abbas, who was among the world’s top ten skeet shooters and represented India in the Junior World Cup held in Finland in 2012.

Abbas’s father, gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, died on March 28 at Rani Durgawati Medical College in UP’s Banda district after being taken there from the local jail when his condition deteriorated. He was laid to rest in Ghazipur on March 30 amid heavy security. The 63-year-old had been behind bars in UP and Punjab since 2005 and had over 60 criminal cases against him. Ansari’s family members have alleged that he was poisoned inside the jail, which led to his death.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) granted permission to Abbas Ansari to offer prayers at his father’s grave and also allowed him to meet his family members on April 11 and 12.

On Wednesday, authorities first brought Abbas to Ghazipur Jail from Kasganj after which he was taken to the graveyard. “It was an emotional moment for Abbas as he was visiting his hometown after 17 months. What Abbas is today he never used to be in his younger days when he was a budding skeet shooting champion and was looking forward to winning medals for India in the Olympics. But life had something else in store for him and he landed in jail,” said a senior journalist from Ghazipur who did not wish to be named.

Abbas was 9 when father Mukhtar went to jail

Abbas, Mau MLA from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, was just nine when his father Mukhtar Ansari went to jail in 2005.

“It was a big setback for Afshan (Afsa), Mukhtar’s wife and Abbas’s mother, as the responsibility of raising Abbas and Umar was on her shoulders. Abbas, who was born on 12 February 1992, was studying at St John’s School in Ghazipur city. But his mother decided to settle in Lucknow along with Abbas and Umar. She got Abbas enrolled in a school in Lucknow. However, after some time, she sent him to Doon School for further studies,” the journalist said.

Becoming a ‘big shot’

Similar to his father Mukhtar Ansari, who was into sports, Abbas too became a big name in shooting. “After winning several championships at the national level, there was a time when Abbas was looking forward to building his career in shotgun shooting,” the journalist added.

In 2012, Abbas won medals in the shotgun shooting category at the Junior World Cup in Finland, registering his name among the top 10 international skeet shooters. In 2013, Abbas won the gold medal in the junior category of the skeet event at the 55th National Shooting Championship. He later became a gold medal winner at the senior level.

Political journey began with 2017 poll defeat

Abbas, who got his BCom Honours degree from Delhi University, would visit Ghazipur frequently, even in the absence of his father, and used to handle his work. “Abbas was seeing his father’s growing empire and popularity even after being in jail. By the time Mukhtar became an MLA from Mau in 2012, Abbas had made up his mind that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and join politics,” said the journalist.

He added that 2017 came as a turning point in Abbas’s life when he expressed his willingness to join politics. Though the family was in favour of Abbas’s decision but Mukhtar was not convinced and hence he did not give up his Mau seat. Instead, he asked Abbas to fight from the Ghosi assembly seat. But the contest was a tough one. The BJP fielded Fagu Singh Chauhan from Ghosi while the Bahujan Samaj Party gave a ticket to Abbas Ansari. BJP’s Chauhan defeated Abbas by a margin of about 8,000 votes.

First case registered in 2019

In 2019, the first police case was registered against Abbas. Soon after another case was filed in Lucknow against the father-son duo for occupying government land.

“Abbas absconded in order to avoid arrest, following which Lucknow Police announced a cash reward of Rs 25,000 for his capture. Authorities were stunned when the pictures of Abbas’s grand wedding with Nikhat, held in Jaipur in 2021, went viral,” the journalist said.

2022 election victory in Mau

In 2022, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Suheldev Bahujan Samaj Party (SBSP) had a tie-up. SBSP gave an election ticket to Abbas Ansari for the Mau assembly seat, which was previously held by his father Mukhtar Ansari. The BJP fielded Ashok Singh. Mukhtar Ansari was an accused in the murder of Singh’s brother. However, the strong Muslim-Yadav-Backwards chemistry in the area worked in favour of Abbas and he registered a big victory by a margin of about 39,000 votes.

During the same election, a case of hate speech and breach of code of conduct was registered against Abbas. “Soon after coming to power, he followed in his father’s footsteps and would move around audaciously in an open jeep. Be it visiting political events or canvassing for SP candidate Dharmedra Yadav in Azamgarh’s Lok Sabha bypoll, he would address gatherings from an open vehicle, which drew people’s attention and his popularity grew in the Muslim-dominated localities of eastern UP.

Arrested in money laundering case same year

On November 18, 2022, the SBSP MLA Abbas Ansari was arrested and sent to Chitrakoot Jail for not cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate’s Prayagraj Unit in an investigation. The agency had summoned Abbas in the Prayagraj money laundering case.

On February 10, 2023, his wife Nikhat Ansari secretly came to meet Abbas in Chitrakoot jail. Following a tip, a team of the Chitrakoot district administration led by the then district magistrate Abhishek Anand and superintendent of police Vrinda Shukla raided the jail and caught them meeting. Foreign currency and mobile phones were recovered from Nikhat. When the matter escalated, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed, which found that several people from the jail administration were involved in helping Nikhat meet Abbas.

After this, action was taken against five accused including Abbas and they were arrested. The people included Nikhat’s driver Niaz, aide Shahbaz Alam, as well as Chitrakoot SP leader Faraz Khan, and a canteen supplier. “The SIT also found the involvement of jail superintendent Ashok Kumar Sagar, jailer Santosh Kumar, and warden Jagmohan in the case. After this, all three were arrested. The police arrested seven people in this case. Nikhat is out on bail whereas others are still in jail and Abbas was shifted from Chitrakoot jail to Kasganj district jail on February 15, 2023, and was lodged in a high-security barracks,” the journalist said.

Abbas to be taken back to Kasganj jail on April 13

Sources from Kasganj district jail said Abbas learnt about his father’s death on the morning of March 29, after which he couldn’t control his emotions and stayed inside the barracks. The family had filed an application before the Allahabad High Court, seeking permission for Abbas to attend his father’s last rites. But Abbas could not get bail as the petition could not be heard by the bench.

The family then approached the Supreme Court, where a division bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan on April 9 ordered that Abbas be taken to his home in Ghazipur by that evening to attend the rituals. Also, the apex court allowed Abbas to meet his family members on April 11 and 12. On April 13, Abbas would be taken back to Kasganj Jail where he is lodged in an arms licence case.