Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh, Afzal Ansari might lose his Lok Sabha membership after being convicted and sentenced to four years in prison in the 2007 Gangsters Act case.
The MP/MLA court of Gazipur has sentenced MP Afzal in a 16 year old case along with his brother and noted UP Don Mukhtar Ansari.
Afzal's brother sentenced to 10 years in jail
While Mukhtar has been sentenced to 10 years jail term with a penalty of ₹5 lakh, Afzal would spend 4 years behind the bars. The court has also imposed a penalty of ₹1 lakh on Afzal. After this sentence BSP MP Afzal might lose his seat in the parliament as per the law.
The government counsel in Gazipur, Neeraj Srivastava informed that Mohammadabad police had lodged a case under gangster act against Ansari brothers on November 22, 2007, two years after the murder of legislator Krishnanand Rai.
Bothers accused of murder of Krishnanand Rai in 2005
Both Mukhtar and Afzal were accused in the broad daylight murder of legislator Rai in the year 2005. The police had lodged this case on the basis of arson after the murder of Krishnanand Rai as well as kidnapping & killing of businessman Nand Kishore Rungta. Though both Mukhtar & Afzal have been acquitted in the murder cases of Krishnanand Rai and Rungta.
The verdict in the gangster case was supposed to be delivered on April 15 this year but it was postponed as the judge of the relevant court was on leave. Charges in the case were framed on September 23 last year. While Mukhtar is currently lodged in Banda jail, Afzal is out on bail.
