Mafia-turned-politician and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard Kali Bagh in Yusufpur Mohammadabad area of Ghazipur district here in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
Family sources said that Mukhtar was buried next to the grave of his mother amid tight security arrangements being supervised by the senior officers at the local as well as state level. As a precautionary measure heavy force was deployed around Mukhtar's house and the graveyard.
Sources said that though a limited number of people were allowed to attend the last rites, a huge crowd of supporters along with political leaders attend the funeral procession. "Thousands of people participated in Mukhtar's Namaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayers) at a ground near the graveyard," they said.
Police sources said that though only a few people, including the close family members, relatives and political leaders, were allowed inside the burial ground, a huge crowd of Mukhtar's supporters gathered outside the graveyard insisting on having a last glimpse of the former MLA. "Though Mukhtar's brother Afzal Ansari and other family members repeatedly appealed for the people to maintain order, the police also faced problems in controlling the mob," they said.
While the funeral was not attended by Mukhtar's wife Afsa Begum, who is absconding and whom the police has announced a reward of Rs 50,000, and his son Abbas, who is lodged in jail, presence of Osama, son of Bihar's former mafia Shahabuddin, in Mukhtar's last farewell remained a topic of discussion.
It may be noted that earlier, Mukhtar's body reached his ancestral residence from Banda amid tight security around 1:10 a.m. on Friday. Mukhtar (63), who was lodged in Banda jail, was taken to Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda on Thursday night after his health deteriorated, where he died due to cardiac arrest during treatment.
Following allegations of the family members, specially his son Umar, that Mukhtar was poisoned, Mukhtar's postmortem was conducted by the panel of five doctors and the entire process was videographed.
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Banda Bhagwan Das Gupta had already ordered a judicial inquiry into Mukhtar's death and has appointed Additional CJM (MP-MLA court) Garima Singh as the inquiry officer, who has been asked to submit her report within a month.
District Magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal had also ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. "While appointing Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Rajesh Kumar as the inquiry officer, she has asked him to submit his detailed report within a fortnight," sources said.
It may be mentioned that during his peak, Mukhtar unleashed a reign of terror not only in Purvanchal, but also in the state capital Lucknow. There were 65 cases, including that of murder, extortion, kidnapping and land grabbing, were lodged against him and so far he was convicted in eight cases.Mukhtar was elected to the UP Legislative Assembly five times from Mau Sadar seat.(UNI)<>