New Delhi: A week before convicted former legislator Mukhtar Ansari’s hospitalisation due to abdomen pain and then death allegedly due to “cardiac arrest”, a court in Uttar Pradesh had sought a report from jail officials in Banda over allegations by him that his meal had been poisoned on at least two occasions in 40 days.
On March 21, special judge MP/MLA court Barabanki, Kamal Kant Srivastava – hearing an application by Ansari – had directed Jail Superintendent Banda to submit a report about Ansari’s health and security over his alleged poisoning by March 29, according to an order copy seen by The Wire.
The court issued the direction on an application filed by Ansari through his lawyer during the hearing of a Gangsters Act case (2022) against him.
In an application filed in the Barabanki court on March 21, Ansari alleged that on March 19 the food provided to him in jail during dinner was mixed with “poisonous substance” because of which he fell seriously ill.
Ansari said after eating the food, he felt uneasy and felt pain in his limbs first and then in the rest of his body.
“My hands and feet turned cold. And it felt like I was about to die. I felt uneasiness. Before that, my health was completely fine,” said Ansari in his application.
He had further alleged that around 40 days before that, he was given a “slow poison” with his meal. Some jail members, including one who would taste his food before it was fed to him, also felt unwell and they all had to be treated, Ansari had alleged in his two-page application.
Ansari had prayed that the court direct a probe into the entire episode and that a medical board be constituted for his overall treatment. Necessary directions should also be given for his security, he said.
“The threat to my life in the jail has increased. Any untoward incident can happen to me at any time,” Ansari had said, alleging that his poisoning was part of “some big conspiracy”.
Taking note of the serious allegations made in the application, judge Srivastava directed the Banda district jail superintendent to ensure that “adequate and proper” medical examination and medical facilities are provided to Ansari, as per the jail manual.
The court also directed the jail official to take necessary steps for Ansari’s safety. The court gave the jail superintendent till March 29 to submit their report over the matter, and sent a copy of the order to DIG Prisons, Prayagraj, under which Banda falls.
On March 21, District Jail Banda deputy jailer Mahendra Singh informed the court that Ansari could not be presented before it through a video conference as he was not well. The official told the court that Ansari’s health had deteriorated and that treatment was ongoing.
Ansari’s son Umar Ansari had last year filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that the state government was planning to assassinate Ansari in Banda jail, where he was lodged as a convict and accused in several criminal cases.
Talking to the media late on March 28 after his father’s death, Umar reiterated his allegations and backed his deceased father’s application in court.
“I am nobody to make an allegation. The who was poisoned (Mukhtar) had himself alleged that he was given poison along with his dinner on March 19.”
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Umar also said that two days before the incident, when Mukhtar Ansari was hospitalised due to pain in his abdomen, he was not allowed to meet his father. “I got to know [about the death] through the media,” said Umar Ansari, adding that he would take up the matter of his father’s death legally. “It is a matter for investigation,” he said.
Ansari, who was under the radar of the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government ever since it came to power in the state in 2017, fainted in his cell and was taken to the Rani Durgavati Medical College at around 8:25 pm on Thursday, after vomiting and losing consciousness, said a medical bulletin from the hospital.
He was taken to the emergency ward where a team of nine doctors immediately treated him but despite best efforts, he died due to “cardiac arrest”, said the bulletin.
The post-mortem of Ansari’s body will be done on March 29.
On Tuesday, March 26, Ansari was suddenly hospitalised for several hours after he complained of abdominal pain.
The UP prison department said Ansari was rushed to a hospital on Tuesday after his health “deteriorated suddenly” at night and “he fell in the toilet”. He was transferred to the Banda medical college in the middle of the night after initial treatment by the jail doctor, said a spokesperson of the prison department.
The hospital had said he was admitted on March 26 at 3:55 am with “complaints of pain [in the] abdomen and [being] unable to pass stool and flatus for 4-5 days”. The 8 am bulletin of the Banda Medical College had said, “Patient is admitted and conservative treatment is started. Patient is stable currently.” Ansari was later discharged from the ICU of the hospital and taken back to jail. On that day, Afzal Ansari alleged that his brother was fed food mixed with a “poisonous substance”. There is a conspiracy to murder him in jail,” Afzal told reporters.
Umar Ansari had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court last December praying that his father be moved to a jail outside UP. On December 15, 2023, the Adityanath government assured the apex court that “necessary augmentation of security as needed will be made” to ensure that no harm was caused to Ansari while in custody. In his petition, Umar had expressed concern for his father’s well-being by drawing attention to the murder of former Lok Sabha MP and tainted politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad while they were being escorted by a team of policemen for a routine medical check-up in Prayagraj on April 15 last year. The Ahmad brothers were killed in front of reporters and the footage was relayed live on television.
In his petition, Mukhtar’s son accused the Adityanath government of taking an “inimical position” against the former MLA and hatching a “larger conspiracy” to eliminate him while he was in jail. The threat perception was based on “reliable information” Mukhtar had received that his life was in grave danger and that there “is a conspiracy afoot involving several actors within the state establishment” to assassinate him in Banda jail.
On January 16, 2024, a division bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Misra had directed the UP government to continue with all the security arrangements to ensure that Ansari “is fully protected from any security breach and consequences”. During this hearing, K.M. Natraj, additional solicitor general, referred to the “elaborate security arrangements” made for Ansari.
The court then listed the matter for the third week of July.
Bhim Army leader Chandrashekhar Azad demanded a probe by the Central Investigation Bureau into Ansari’s death.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said that it was “condemnable” that despite “serious allegations” by Ansari that he was poisoned by the jail authorities, the state government did not pay attention to his treatment.
