BSP leader Yakub's benami property worth Rs 31 cr seized under Gangster Act

Yakub Qureshi is a two-time MLA and a former state minister. The seized properties include a hospital building at Meerut's Bhavani Nagar in Nauchandi and two luxury cars

The district administration here on Monday seized benami property of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and two-time MLA Yakub Qureshi worth Rs 31 crore under the Gangster Act, officials said.

The seized properties include a hospital building at Bhavani Nagar in Nauchandi and two luxury cars that Qureshi had allegedly purchased in the name of his family members and employees, they said.

Three plots in Shastri Nagar measuring 3,265.35 square metres, 288 square metres and 213.60 square metres have also been seized.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rohit Singh Sajwan said that in compliance with the order given by the court of District Magistrate under the The Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, benami property of former minister Yakub Qureshi with an estimated value of Rs 31 crore has been seized.

Sajwan said that on March 31, 2022, police conducted a raid in a meat factory belonging to Qureshi in Meerut, and had detected the packing of illegally procured meat.

Police had arrested 10 employees of the factory and had named 17 people, including Qureshi, his wife and both sons, in the FIR, he said. A case against the BSP leader, his wife Shamjida Begum, sons Firoz and Imran, factory managers Mohit Tyagi, Mujeeb and Faizyab was registered under the Gangster Act in December.

Qureshi was BSP MLA from Kharkhaudha assembly constituency in Meerut from 2002 to 2007. He won the Meerut assembly seat in 2007 on a Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front (UPUDF) ticket.

He was a minister in the BSP government in 2003. Subsequently, he also became a minister in the Samajwadi Party government in October 2003.