‘Today is Holi For us’: Wife of BJP MLA Killed by Convicted Gangster Mukhtar Ansari

Mukhtar Ansari Death: 'Mukhtar Ansari's death is a blessing of Almighty', said the family of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Krishnanand Rai, who was murdered by the convicted gangster.  “What can I say? This is the blessing of the Almighty. I used to pray to him for justice and the justice has been served today. We never celebrated Holi after the incident (the murder), I felt that today is Holi for us,” Alka Rai told news agency ANI.

Elated over Ansari's death, the BJP MLA's son said, "My mother and I have received the blessings of Baba Vishwanath and Baba Gorakhnath."

Ansari was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in April 2023 for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. The incident took place on November 29, 2005, when Rai was returning home after inaugurating a cricket tournament in the Siyadi area. His convoy was ambushed around 1:30 pm at a narrow bridge in the Ussarchati locality of the Bhawarkol area in Ghazipur.

Meanwhile, security personnel in several districts of Uttar Pradesh remained on alert. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed across the state and teams of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with the local police have been deployed in Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said earlier.

People had also started gathering at Mukhtar Ansari's residence in Ghazipur and there was a large deployment of security personnel around the house.

Principal of the Banda Medical College Hospital Suneel Kaushal said the postmortem of Mukhtar Ansari is underway at the hospital and the entire process is being videographer. A panel of doctors is performing the postmortem and the viscera will be preserved, Kaushal said, adding the Chief Medical Officer is present at the spot.

Senior officials, including District Magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal, Superintendent of Police Ankur Agarwal and a large number of security personnel are present at the hospital.

Paramilitary forces and central forces have been deployed as a precautionary measure outside the medical college, officials said.

The 63-year-old Ansari was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in "an unconscious state" on Thursday evening and died at the hospital following a cardiac arrest.

Family members of Mukhtar Ansari, including his son Umar Ansari, and counsel Naseem Haider will take the body to his home town Ghazipur for last rites after the postmortem. His counsel Haider said the body will be taken to Ghazipur via Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj and Varanasi and the last rites will be performed at the Kali Bagh family burial ground there.