Varanasi: As the mafia turned politician Mukhtar Ansari was awarded life imprisonment for the first time on Monday by the MP MLA Court of Varanasi in a 32-year-old murder case, the court premises resounded with the chant of ‘Har Har Mahadev’.

A total of 61 cases were registered against Mukhtar Ansari

After the pronouncement of the sentence, the advocates also cut a cake to mark Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s birthday and gave credit to the Chief Minister’s zero-tolerance policy and effective lobbying in court.

A total of 61 cases were registered against Mukhtar Ansari, out of which he has been sentenced in 6 cases, including five during the tenure Yogi government. The MP MLA court sentenced Mukhtar Ansari to life imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs one lakh against him in the 31 years and 10 months old Awadhesh Rai murder case.

On August 3, 1991, Congress leader and brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, Awadhesh Rai, was shot dead outside Ajay Rai’s house in Varanasi. The Special Court which concluded the hearing after arguments on May 19, reserved its order, and fixed June 5 as the date to deliver it.

On May 17, a Ghazipur MP-MLA Court acquitted Mukhtar Ansari accused in a case of conspiracy of a murder attempt in Uttar Pradesh’s Mohammadabad area in the district.

In 2009, Mir Hasan filed a case of attempt to murder against Ansari under 120B. A case under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Ansari at Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur.