Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari has been handed a life sentence by a special MP-MLA court for his involvement in a three-decade-old case involving fake arms licenses. The court, after convicting Ansari on Tuesday, March 12, scheduled March 13 for the announcement of his punishment in the matter.

As per the government counsel, Mukhtar Ansari participated in the court proceedings through video conference from Banda Jail, where he is presently incarcerated.

The ruling was issued by Judge Awanish Gautam of the special MP-MLA court, as confirmed by district government counsel Vinay Singh.

He mentioned that the charges against Ansari were filed under IPC sections 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 120B (criminal conspiracy), along with relevant provisions of the Arms Act. These charges stem from an incident at Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur district dating back to December 1990.

According to police officials, Mukhtar Ansari is facing approximately 60 pending cases across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, New Delhi, and other states. Furthermore, he has already been convicted in at least seven cases.

In a sequence of events, Mukhtar Ansari submitted an application for a double-barrel gun license to the district magistrate of Ghazipur on June 10, 1987. Subsequently, the arms license was acquired using counterfeit signatures of both the district magistrate and the superintendent of police.

When the fraudulent activity came to light on December 4, 1990, the CB-CID filed a complaint with the police. Subsequently, based on this complaint, a case was registered at Mohadabad police station in Ghazipur against five individuals, including Mukhtar Ansari, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The charge sheet was forwarded to the court in 1997, naming the then ordnance clerk Gaurishankar Srivastava and Mukhtar Ansari as accused. Unfortunately, Gaurishankar Srivastava passed away during the course of the trial. Throughout the proceedings, the prosecution recorded statements from 10 witnesses pertinent to the case.