After UP jail move, Ansari booked under Arms Act for withholding guns

Three days after BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari was moved from a prison in Punjab to Uttar Pradesh to face trial in various cases, the Ghazipur police lodged an FIR against the gangster-turned-politician for allegedly not handing over a double-barrel gun and a rifle despite the district administration cancelling the weapons licences.

While the gun licence was cancelled in 1996, the rifle’s licence was revoked in 2017.

The FIR was filed under different sections of the Arms Act following a complaint from sub-inspector Rajeev Tripathi at the Mohammadabad police station.

“The district magistrate had cancelled the licences of Mukhar Ansari’s double-barrel gun and a rifle at different time periods. Several notices were issued to him by the district administration, asking him to submit both the licences and the weapons but Mukhtar did not deposit them,” said Mohammadabad Station House Officer (SHO) AN Singh.

Ansari was brought to the state on April 7, weeks after the Supreme been Court directed the Punjab government to hand over his custody to the Yogi Adityanath administration. Mukhtar is facing an extortion case in Punjab, and also has several pending cases in UP.