A chief judicial magistrate's court in Uttar Pradesh's Banda on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari. This comes as Ansari's son wrote to the District Magistrate that the postmortem examination be carried out by the doctors of AIIMS, Delhi.
The investigation team will be headed by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (MP-MLA Court Banda) Garima Singh, said the order issued by Banda Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Bhagwan Das Gupta. The CJM has sought the probe report within a month.
As for the postmortem examination, a panel of two doctors will do the post-mortem, which will be videographed.
Earlier the day, Ansari's son had demanded that the postmortem procedures be carried out by doctors at AIIMS, Delhi. "It (post-mortem) is their procedure. I have written a letter saying that it should be done by doctors at AIIMS Delhi. We don't trust the medical system, government and administration here. You know why I am saying this...Panchnama is done. District Magistrate has to make a decision. Let's see what he decides. The postmortem has not begun," he told ANI.
"We hope that the court will help investigate the suspicions that we are expressing. We will consult our legal team. We are confident that this is not a natural death but an orchestrated murder," he added.
Ansari, 63, was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in "an unconscious state" on Thursday evening and died at the hospital following a cardiac arrest. His family alleges that Ansari was poisoned in the jail.
Ansari's brother, Afzal Ansari, who is also the Ghazipur MP, alleged that his brother was given slow poison in jail. "Mukhtar said that he was given a poisonous substance in food in jail. This happened for the second time. Around 40 days ago also he was given poison. And recently, he was again given this (poison) due to which his condition is bad," Afzal Ansari had said.
Meanwhile, Ansari's body will be taken to Mohammadabad Yusufpur township in Ghazipur district, Ansari's native place. The town is under tight security cover to maintain law and order.
The convoy carrying Ansari's body would pass through Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj and Varanasi districts, before arriving in Ghazipur.
Hundreds of Ansari's supporters are waiting for the arrival of his body as a grave is being prepared at the Ansari family's burial ground in Kali Bagh. Gulab Ram, the former Ghazipur unit chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), told PTI Videos that "people are heartbroken". "Shops are closed. He (Ansari) used to be with people in their happiness and sorrow," Ram said.
The councillor of ward number 25, Lohatia Sanjeev Kumar Gihar, told reporters that "the market is closed not because of anyone's advice but due to our sympathies with the Ansari family".
Mohammadabad police station circle officer Atar Singh and Pawan Kumar Upadhyaya told PTI that Ansari's family members have informed them that the last rites will be performed on Friday if the body reaches here by 10 pm. Otherwise, the last rites would be performed on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, Ansari's political rivals have reacted to his death, stating justice has been served. Anand Rai, the nephew of Mohammadabad's former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Krishnanand Rai, who was killed in 2005, told reporters that "der hai andher nahin (this is god's justice)".
Krishnanand Rai's wife Alka called the news "a blessing of the Almighty". In 2005, Ansari and his family members were named as accused in the killing of Krishnanand Rai.