New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh MLA Mukhtar Ansari charged under MCOCA for allegedly being part of an organised crime syndicate has been allowed by a Delhi court to attend the state Assembly session.
"Accused Mukhtar Ansari, as reported is a sitting MLA of UP Legislative Assembly. Permission is accordingly accorded for accused for his production to attend the Vidhan Sabha proceedings," Additional Sessions Judge Savita Rao said.
The ASJ, however, directed that Ansari, who is currently lodged in Agra jail, should be produced before the court on February 20, the next date of hearing, without fail.
An independent legislator from Mau and an accused in the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, 53-year-old Ansari was allowed to attend the Assembly session on February 19, from February 25 to 28, on March 1, from March 4 to 7, from March 11 to 14 and March 18 to 21.
The court had on May 3, 2012 charged Ansari under section 3(4) of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for being a member of an organised crime syndicate run by his co-accused Prem Prakash alias Munna Bajrangi, who had lost Assembly election from Jaunpur last year.
It had also framed similar charges against Bajrangi, Iftekhar Ahmed and Meraz Ahmed, who had been acquitted in an extortion case last year.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Bajrangi in October 2009 for allegedly threatening a South Delhi businessman Ashok Tebriwal to extort Rs one crore after it intercepted their telephonic conversation.
The police had later lodged an FIR against Ansari, who is said to be close to Bajrangi, after it found that he was also allegedly a part of the organised crime syndicate. Ansari was arrested in May 2010.
PTI
