UP lawmaker Mukhtar Ansari acquitted in organised crime case

A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted Uttar Pradesh legislator Mukhtar Ansari and three others in a case related to their being members of an organised criminal gang.

Additional Sessions Judge Chandra Shekhar acquitted Ansari and his associates and alleged gangster Prem Prakash alias Munna Bajrangi, Iftekhar Ahmed and Meraz Ahmed, who were facing trial under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for being involved in organised crime.

Ansari's defence counsel Deepak Sharma told IANS that the court acquitted them, observing that there was no sufficient evidence.

The court on May 3, 2012 had framed charges against all the accused, including Ansari, an independent legislator from Mau in Uttar Pradesh.

According to Delhi Police, all four were involved in various cases of extortion in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Bajrangi was arrested in October 2009 for threatening Delhi businessman Ashok Tebriwal and trying to extort money from him. Iftekhar and Meraz were arrested in November 2009.

Ansari is also facing trial in a murder case of BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai in 2005, which was transferred from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi by the Supreme Court.