Mukhtar Ansari Height, Age, Death, Caste, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mukhtar Ansari

• He was born into an influential Sunni Muslim family in Ghazipur.

• His grandfather, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, served as the President of the Indian National Congress and Mulsim League. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was an Indian Freedom Fighter who later became one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia University and served as its chancellor from 1928 to 1936. ^[15]The Week
  

  Dr Mulhtar Ahmad Ansari Postal Ticket

• Being an accomplished surgeon, his grandfather, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, also led the Indian medical mission to treat Turkish soldiers injured during the Balkan War. ^[16]The Week
  

  Dr Mulhtar Ahmad Ansari (right) during the Indian medical mission to treat Turkish soldiers injured during the Balkan war

• There is a ward named after his grandfather at Charing Cross Hospital in London, where his grandfather studied. ^[17]The Week

• Ansari’s elder brother Sibakatullah Ansari was a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA from the Mohammadabad constituency, and his elder brother Afzal Ansari is a Lok Sabha member from Ghazipur.

• Mukhtar Ansari started his political career by participating in student council elections at the Post Graduate Gazipur College Rambadh.

• After earning a BA degree in 1984, he became a member of the Makhanu Singh gang. Later, this gang clashed several times with another gang led by Sahib Singh over a plot of land.

• A member of Sahib Singh’s gang, Brijesh Singh, later formed his own gang and became a staunch rival of Mukhtar Ansari.

• Gangs of Mukhtar Ansari and Brijesh Singh clashed many times over contracts such as Railways, Public Works, Coal Mining, and Liquor Business.

• In 1988, Ansari came into the eyes of the law after he killed Sachidanand Rai, a local Mandi Parishad contractor in Ghazipur. It was followed by the murder of Tribhuwan Singh’s brother, Rajendra Singh who was a constable in Varanasi. Tribhuwan Singh is also a mafia in Purvanchal, and he is one of the close associates of Brijesh Singh.

• Mukhtar Ansari entered into active politics in the late 90s and started challenging Brijesh Singh’s dominance. Ansari started expanding his criminal activities in Mau, Ghazipur, Varanasi, and Jaunpur with an eye to control Ghazipur’s lucrative Thekedari or contract work mafia, including railway construction, Public Works Department construction, coal mining, and the liquor business, and he went on to control various government contracts worth hundreds of crores in Purvanchal.
  

  An Old Photo of Mukhtar Ansari

• Besides contract works, Ansari also expanded his influence in other activities, such as extortion, kidnapping, and extraction of protection money called the ‘Goonda Tax.’

• Soon, Mukhtar Ansari and Brijesh Singh became two main gang rivals in Eastern Uttar Pradesh called Purvanchal. 

• Once in a clash between the Ansari gang and the Brijesh gang, Ansari presumed Brijesh to be dead. However, Brijesh was later found to be alive. The incident happened on the Mau-Lucknow highway in 2001 when Brijesh Singh ambushed Ansari’s convoy and killed his three key men. In the shootout, Brijesh was also critically injured.

• In the 2002 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP’s Krishnanand Rai defeated Ansari’s brother, Afzal, from the Mohammadabad constituency. Krishnanand Rai, being a close aide of Brijesh Singh, allotted to Brijesh almost all government contracts, which triggered Ansari, and on 29 November 2005, Krishnanand Rai was killed in mafia-style.

• In the Krishnanand Rai murder case, Mukhtar Ansari was named in an F.I.R. filed at the Ghazipur police station, and he was arrested and lodged in jail; however, on 3 July 2019, after witnesses against him turned hostile, he was released. ^[18]Frontline 

• Ansari served as an MLA from Mau for a record five times.
  

  Mukhtar Ansari entering the UP Vidhan Sabha

• In 2007, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party, and Mayawati called him a “messiah of the poor” and portrayed him as Robin Hood; however, she expelled him from the party in 2010 by calling him a criminal.
  

  Mukhtar Ansari Joining the BSP

• Ansari, after being expelled from the BSP, formed his own political party, Quami Ekta Dal (QED) in 2012 along with his brothers Afzal and Sibkatillah.

• During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he announced to contest against Narendra Modi from the Varanasi constituency. However, he later withdrew his candidature.

• On 26 January 2017, he rejoined the BSP before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

• Mukhtar Ansari’s elder son Abbas Ansari is a management graduate and an ace shooter.
  

  Mukhtar Ansari’s Son Abbas

• Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President of India, is a distant relative of Mukhtar Ansari. Hamid Ansari is the grandnephew of Mukhtar Ansari’s grandfather, Ahmed Ansari. ^[19]The Week

• The Hindi web series Raktanchal was released in 2020 and was reportedly based on real-life events from the ’80s of Purvanchal. This MX Player Orginal crime drama series reportedly depicts the rivalry between Mukhtar Ansari and Brijesh Singh.

• He died on 28 March 2024 at the Rani Durgawati Medical College in Banda district, Uttar Pradesh. He was earlier admitted to a hospital after he complained of abdominal pain; however, he was later discharged after treatment. Later, his family members accused the government of giving him slow poison. ^[20]The Hindu