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Mukhtar Ansari's aide Jeeva shot dead outside court in Lucknow
Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva was a dreaded gangster in Western Uttar Pradesh. He was associated with Mukhtar Ansari and Munna Bajrangi gangs.
Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's close aide Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva was shot dead outside Lucknow civil court on Wednesday. The attacker had come in the garb of lawyers.
The shooter was arrested after he carried out the hit. However, angry lawyers resorted to stone-pelting at the cops. Some police personnel sustained injuries, Hindustan Times' sister website Live Hindustan reported.
"A person opened fire in UP's Lucknow Civil Court. The injured has been sent to Trauma Centre. We do not have any detail as of now", a senior police official told ANI.
According to report, Sanjeev Jeeva was shot several times. Two others including a child also received bullet injuries.
Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said,"I do not have this information but if anyone will be involved in such murders, police will take strict action against them, they will not be spared".
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said,""Is it a democracy? The question is not who is being killed but the question is that one is being killed where security is the highest".
Who was Jeeva?
Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva was a dreaded gangster in Western Uttar Pradesh. He was associated with Mukhtar Ansari and Munna Bajrangi gangs. He was lodged in Lucknow jail since past many days and was brought to court for an appearance in a case.
After Munna Bajrangi's murder inside Baghpat jail in 2018, Jeeva had claimed threat to his life. His involvement had come into light in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. Rai, who was an MLA from Mohammadabad seat in Ghazipur, was sprayed with bullets along with six others in Ghazipur by a group of assailants armed with AK-47 assault rifles in 2005. Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari were named as conspirators in the FIR.
Jeeva was also involved in the murder of former UP minister Brahma Dutt Dwivedi in 1997. He along with former MLA Vijay Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI court in 2003.
