10-19-2005, 01:39 AM
Pioneer
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>For Ansari, courting controversy comes easy </b>
Bishwadeep Ghosh/ Lucknow
One name that figures right at the top of the list of those accused of fomenting three days of communal violence in Mau, near Varanasi, is that of Mokhtar Ansari, independent MLA who boasts of close proximity with the current dispensation in Uttar Pradesh. Â
On Tue-sday, the police registered an FIR against him and many others for indulging in communal riots. Earlier, he was banned from entering Mau, but only after he had lit the fire that was to engulf houses, shops and a dozen lives.
Mokhtar Ansari has an unenviable track record of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Right from his infamous schooling in the grisly alleys of the world of crime to his graduation to the corridors of power, he has shown a penchant for courting controversy.
The embarrassment caused by him repeatedly to his political masters notwithstanding, he has always been forgiven - and not without reasons. This don-turned-politician exercises considerable clout in the badlands of eastern Uttar Pradesh and has bailed out different sets of powers-that-be at times of deep crisis.
Hence, his mentors have chosen to turn a Nelson's eye to his wanton acts of holding the administration to ransom, quite brazenly. Mau seems to be an exception to the rule by which Mokhtar Ansari has lived all these years. The State Government, after coming in for some shelling from the media and the Opposition, decided to act "fair and transparent", first by barring him from entering the strife-torn town and then lodging an FIR against him and 100 others for fanning trouble.
<b>Mokhtar Ansari has been named for orchestrating the murder of Ram Pratap Yadav at Salahabad locality on last Friday </b>last and instigating local residents to run riot.
But those who believe that Mokhtar Ansari is not easily daunted by FIRs and cases say that situations like this have crossed his path earlier too. The don believes that such steps are no more than gimmicks and will die with the great healer - time.
Not confined to adroitly wielding the gun, Mokhtar Ansari has also mastered the art of staying on the right side of power for his survival and done it in great style. After being booted out from Bahujan Samaj Party some years back, he did not mince words to attack party president Mayawati. That did not stop him from bailing out Ms Mayawati's Government, alongwith several eastern Uttar Pradesh legislators, on the floor of the House a few months later.
Being sent to jail has neither deterred him nor curbed his style. He has carried out his "business" from the confines of various jails of the State with very little opposition from the jail administration.
During his stay <b>in Ghazipur jail, he used a letterhead that gave District Jail, Ghazipur, as his address. Evenings were meant for hunts and the don and his entourage would reportedly return to his "five-star" barrack with the kill in the wee hours.</b> His escapades found at best passing reference in local newspapers as scribes were gagged.
But the ever-smiling MLA ran out of luck during his sojourn at Lucknow District Jail. <b>While out to attend a court date, Mokhtar Ansari went to an IG seeking the transfer of a host of constables.</b> As he was coming out, a lensman clicked him alongwith his gun-totting cohorts. The photojournalist was roughed up in the high-security DG headquarters. Fed up by his antics, Ms Mayawati ordered the don's transfer to another Jail.
A year ago, Mokhtar Ansari was in the news, once again for the wrong reasons. After manipulating his tansfer to Lucknow Jail, following the change of guard in Vidhan Sabha, <b>he held the jailor at gunpoint, threatening to kill him for his temerity to stop the don's acquaintances at the gate after visiting hours were over</b>.
Mokhtar Ansari's meteoric rise in the underworld started in 1986 when he allegedly bumped off rival and druglord Sachidanand in Ghazipur. Two years later, he eliminated Ranveer Singh in Ghazipur. In 1988, he sent ripples by snuffing out Sahab Singh in police custody in Varanasi. The deceased was a cohort of his rival, Brijesh Singh.
A year later, the daring don allegedly <b>bumped off constable Ranjeet Singh inside Varanasi Police Lines</b> for the latter's proximity to Brijesh Singh. In 1990, a police constable, Awadhesh Rai, was allegedly felled in a daring shootout in Varanasi involving the ganglord and his cohorts, including sharpshooter Munna Bajrangi.
In December 1991, to shake off a police team hot on his tail, Mokhtar Ansari and his men reportedly<b> gunned down another constable, Raghuvans Rai, in Varanasi</b>. A couple of years later, the don and his gang were at it again.
Ansari's name figured in the kidnapping of Varanasi coal merchant Nand Kishore Rungta for ransom but he managed to secure an acquittal from court. Similarly, <b>he swung an acquittal in the TADA case against him</b>. There <b>is little reason why an FIR should worry the man who went around Mau in an open jeep, assuring rioters they need not worry about the police. </b>
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>For Ansari, courting controversy comes easy </b>
Bishwadeep Ghosh/ Lucknow
One name that figures right at the top of the list of those accused of fomenting three days of communal violence in Mau, near Varanasi, is that of Mokhtar Ansari, independent MLA who boasts of close proximity with the current dispensation in Uttar Pradesh. Â
On Tue-sday, the police registered an FIR against him and many others for indulging in communal riots. Earlier, he was banned from entering Mau, but only after he had lit the fire that was to engulf houses, shops and a dozen lives.
Mokhtar Ansari has an unenviable track record of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Right from his infamous schooling in the grisly alleys of the world of crime to his graduation to the corridors of power, he has shown a penchant for courting controversy.
The embarrassment caused by him repeatedly to his political masters notwithstanding, he has always been forgiven - and not without reasons. This don-turned-politician exercises considerable clout in the badlands of eastern Uttar Pradesh and has bailed out different sets of powers-that-be at times of deep crisis.
Hence, his mentors have chosen to turn a Nelson's eye to his wanton acts of holding the administration to ransom, quite brazenly. Mau seems to be an exception to the rule by which Mokhtar Ansari has lived all these years. The State Government, after coming in for some shelling from the media and the Opposition, decided to act "fair and transparent", first by barring him from entering the strife-torn town and then lodging an FIR against him and 100 others for fanning trouble.
<b>Mokhtar Ansari has been named for orchestrating the murder of Ram Pratap Yadav at Salahabad locality on last Friday </b>last and instigating local residents to run riot.
But those who believe that Mokhtar Ansari is not easily daunted by FIRs and cases say that situations like this have crossed his path earlier too. The don believes that such steps are no more than gimmicks and will die with the great healer - time.
Not confined to adroitly wielding the gun, Mokhtar Ansari has also mastered the art of staying on the right side of power for his survival and done it in great style. After being booted out from Bahujan Samaj Party some years back, he did not mince words to attack party president Mayawati. That did not stop him from bailing out Ms Mayawati's Government, alongwith several eastern Uttar Pradesh legislators, on the floor of the House a few months later.
Being sent to jail has neither deterred him nor curbed his style. He has carried out his "business" from the confines of various jails of the State with very little opposition from the jail administration.
During his stay <b>in Ghazipur jail, he used a letterhead that gave District Jail, Ghazipur, as his address. Evenings were meant for hunts and the don and his entourage would reportedly return to his "five-star" barrack with the kill in the wee hours.</b> His escapades found at best passing reference in local newspapers as scribes were gagged.
But the ever-smiling MLA ran out of luck during his sojourn at Lucknow District Jail. <b>While out to attend a court date, Mokhtar Ansari went to an IG seeking the transfer of a host of constables.</b> As he was coming out, a lensman clicked him alongwith his gun-totting cohorts. The photojournalist was roughed up in the high-security DG headquarters. Fed up by his antics, Ms Mayawati ordered the don's transfer to another Jail.
A year ago, Mokhtar Ansari was in the news, once again for the wrong reasons. After manipulating his tansfer to Lucknow Jail, following the change of guard in Vidhan Sabha, <b>he held the jailor at gunpoint, threatening to kill him for his temerity to stop the don's acquaintances at the gate after visiting hours were over</b>.
Mokhtar Ansari's meteoric rise in the underworld started in 1986 when he allegedly bumped off rival and druglord Sachidanand in Ghazipur. Two years later, he eliminated Ranveer Singh in Ghazipur. In 1988, he sent ripples by snuffing out Sahab Singh in police custody in Varanasi. The deceased was a cohort of his rival, Brijesh Singh.
A year later, the daring don allegedly <b>bumped off constable Ranjeet Singh inside Varanasi Police Lines</b> for the latter's proximity to Brijesh Singh. In 1990, a police constable, Awadhesh Rai, was allegedly felled in a daring shootout in Varanasi involving the ganglord and his cohorts, including sharpshooter Munna Bajrangi.
In December 1991, to shake off a police team hot on his tail, Mokhtar Ansari and his men reportedly<b> gunned down another constable, Raghuvans Rai, in Varanasi</b>. A couple of years later, the don and his gang were at it again.
Ansari's name figured in the kidnapping of Varanasi coal merchant Nand Kishore Rungta for ransom but he managed to secure an acquittal from court. Similarly, <b>he swung an acquittal in the TADA case against him</b>. There <b>is little reason why an FIR should worry the man who went around Mau in an open jeep, assuring rioters they need not worry about the police. </b>
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