Gangster Sanjeev Jeeva, aide of Mukhtar Ansari, shot dead in Lucknow court

Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s close aide Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva was shot dead inside SC/ST Court in Lucknow on Wednesday. A policeman and a six-year-old girl also suffered injuries in the attack.

The attacker came in the garb of an advocate and when Jeeva was about to leave the court, he indiscriminately opened fire.

Police have apprehended the assailant who has been identified as Vijay Yadav. They said that Vijay is being interrogated.

However, angry lawyers staged a protest and even manhandled the assailant. Some lawyers resorted to stone-pelting at the cops in which a few police personnel sustained injuries.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Zone, Aparna Rajat Kaushik said that Jeeva, the history-sheeter was shot near the door of the courtroom of ST/SC court number III while being brought for a hearing of a case.

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 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 district, was sprayed with bullets along with six others by a group of assailants armed with AK-47 assault rifles in 2005. Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari were named as conspirators.