A team of 150 members of Uttar Pradesh police, equipped with sophisticated tactical gear, on Tuesday took custody of wanted gangster-turned-politician, Mukhtar Ansari, at Punjab’s Rupnagar jail. This comes despite BSP politician’s wife Afshan Ansari’s move to approach the Supreme Court of India in an attempt to get a direction for UP Police to ‘not kill’ her husband in a fake encounter and allow him to face a ‘free and fair trial.’

Also Read: All about Mukhtar Ansari, BSP legislator being shifted from Punjab to UP jail

Here’s why the alleged gangster is wanted in UP and the cases pending against him in the state:

Ansari, a five-time MLA from Mau constituency of Uttar Pradesh on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, has 38 cases of heinous crime lodged against him in different districts of UP, including Ghazipur, Lucknow, and his constituency Mau. However, he had been acquitted in most of these cases.

Forging documents and using an ambulance for illegal purposes

Ansari faces charges of criminal conspiracy for his alleged role in forging documents and procuring an ambulance for private use, allegedly for carrying out illegal activities. 

Murder cases

Ansari was also the prime accused in the 2005 murder case of  BJP MLA Krishna Nand Rai but was acquitted by a Delhi court in July last year.

He was also acquitted in the double murder case that took place in Kotwali area of Mau district in 2009.

Extortion and Criminal Intimidation

The gangster-turned-politician has also been booked under extortion (Section 386 of the Indian Penal Code) and criminal intimidation (Section 506 of the IPC) on the complaint of the CEO of Homeland Group.