SC closes proceedings on Ansari’s conviction appeal

New Delhi: Taking note of Mukhtar Ansari’s death, the Supreme Court on Tuesday closed its proceedings on a plea filed by the jailed gangster-turned-politician against an order of the Allahabad High Court sentencing him to five-year jail term in a 24-year-old case.

“The petitioner is no more. The proceedings shall be abated,” said the bench comprising justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal after taking note of the statement that Ansari passed away. On March 28, Ansari died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Banda in Uttar Pradesh.

Last year on October 13, the top court had sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government on Ansari’s appeal against the high court order.

Prior to this, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 23 had overturned Ansari’s acquittal and sentenced him to a five-year jail term in a case related to the Gangster Act. The high court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Ansari as it overturned the acquittal order by a special MP-MLA court in 2020.

A special court had acquitted Ansari in 2020. The state filed an appeal against acquittal in 2021.