Four gang members and close associates of incarcerated mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari has been killed in judicial custody over the past five years since July 2018. All the killings happened in strange circumstances—two shootouts inside U.P. jails and one inside a courtroom.
Other than these three incidents, the killings of mafiosi brothers Atiq Ahmad and Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf, while being taken for a routine medical checkup at a hospital in Prayagraj on April 15, also took place in police custody.
The sequence of incidents has raised many eyebrows on whether there were security lapses by the police and jail administration in these incidents or a larger conspiracy is behind these killings. Political parties have also raised questions over these incidents and demanded fair investigation.
GS Chauhan, senior lawyer of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court, said a detailed and fair investigation is a must in such incidents to confirm the motive behind the killings. He said probe committees were formed after every such killing, but nothing substantial came out due to unknown reasons.
“Other than the killing of Sanjeev Maheshwari inside a Lucknow courtroom on Wednesday, another gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, co-accused in slain BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai’s murder along with Jeeva and Mukhtar Ansari, was shot dead by another gangster Sunil Rathi inside Baghpat jail on July 9, 2018. Rathi, who was serving life term in the Baghpat jail, had later confessed to killing Bajrangi but cops failed to ascertain his exact motive behind the killing,” said a former director general- rank police official who asked not to be named while recalling the incident.
{{/usCountry}}“Other than the killing of Sanjeev Maheshwari inside a Lucknow courtroom on Wednesday, another gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, co-accused in slain BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai’s murder along with Jeeva and Mukhtar Ansari, was shot dead by another gangster Sunil Rathi inside Baghpat jail on July 9, 2018. Rathi, who was serving life term in the Baghpat jail, had later confessed to killing Bajrangi but cops failed to ascertain his exact motive behind the killing,” said a former director general- rank police official who asked not to be named while recalling the incident.
{{/usCountry}}Bajrangi was shifted to Baghpat jail from Jhansi jail only a few hours before the incident on July 8, 2018. Moreover, the jail administration’s role was also under scanner as to how the firearm reached inside the prison.
Two other Mukhtar Ansari associates Merajudden and Mukeem Kala were shot dead by another gangster Anshu Dixit in a shootout inside Chitrakoot jail on May 15, 2021. Dixit used a semi-automatic pistol and was later gunned down in cross-firing by police reportedly while trying to overpower him.
Question arises as to how Dixit procured a pistol inside the jail. His motive behind the killing was never ascertained as he himself was shot dead in the incident.
Atiq Ahmad and Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf were also shot dead in the presence of heavily armed police personnel. Three assailants, Luvkesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh and Arun Maurya, were arrested from the spot and they confessed to committing the crime with a motive to establish themselves in the crime world.