HC grants bail to Mukhtar Ansari in 2007 Gangster's Act case
PTC News Desk: Mukhtar Ansari, a gangster-politician and former MLA, was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on Monday in a case filed under the Gangsters Act in 2007.
The order came in response to Mukhtar Ansari's plea against a special MP-MLA court in Ghazipur, which sentenced him to ten years in prison and imposed a fine him Rs 5 lakhs in the case in April of this year.
A single-judge court led by Justice Raj Beer Singh granted him bail and stayed the fine. The bench, however, refused to stay the conviction in the case, stating that it would be heard at a later stage.
Ansari, who is now lodged at the Banda jail, is likely to remain there despite being granted bail because he is accused of several other charges. Ansari was sentenced to life in prison in a murder case by a court in Varanasi in June of this year.
During the case's hearing on September 20, Ansari's counsel contended in court that the Gangsters Act was placed on the appellant because of his alleged involvement in the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishna Nand Rai, in which he was acquitted.
The appellant's counsel further argued that because Ansari served more than ten years of his sentence during the trial, there was no reason to keep him in jail even after conviction.
The state counsel had objected to the bail plea, claiming that there were sufficient grounds to keep him in custody. The high court reserved its decision after hearing from the parties.
- With inputs from agencies
