The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court rejected the bail application of mafia don and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari and noted that it is an irony and tragedy of the Indian republic and the biggest scar on Indian democracy that criminals like Mukhtar Ansari are the lawmakers.
A single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh passed this order while hearing a Criminal Misc Bail Application filed by Mukhtar Ansari.
The application under Section 439 CrPC has been filed seeking bail in FIR under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B, 177 and 506 IPC and Section 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, Police Station Kotwali Nagar, District Barabanki after the bail application of the accused-applicant has been rejected by the Special Judge (MP/MLA)/ Additional District Judge, Barabanki on 13.12.2021.
As per the allegations in the FIR, an ambulance bearing registration no UP 41 AT 7171 was registered in the Road Transport Office, Barabanki on 21.12.2013 in the name of Dr Alka Rai, Rafi Nagar, Barabanki.
A letter was submitted that said the ambulance would be attached to Sanjeevani Hospital and Research Center Private Limited, National Highway-24, GT Road, Mau. However, on 1.4.2021, it came to the notice that the said ambulance was being run without fitness certificate and insurance as the fitness of the said ambulance expired on 31.1.2017. The Road Transport Office issued notice on 23.1.2020 to the alleged owner of the said ambulance on the address, which was given at the time of registration of the vehicle.
At the time of registration, the said vehicle got registered in the name of Dr Alka Rai, Rafi Nagar, Barabanki, for which the relevant papers such as Voter Identity Card of the said address were submitted and the Registration Officer believing the genuineness of the documents submitted, registered the said vehicle to the address given at the time of registration.
However, it was found that the said Voter Identity Card was a forged and fabricated document. There was no such address of Rafi Nagar, Barabanki, but there was an address in nearby locality, House No 56, Abhay Nagar and in the said house, one Pradeep Mishra was living with his family. It was said that no one in the name of Dr Alka Rai ever lived in Rafi Nagar or Abhay Nagar, and the papers submitted at the time of registration of the said ambulance were forged and fabricated documents.
The FIR was registered against co-accused, Dr Alka Rai. However, during the course of investigation, the name of the accused-applicant figured, and it was found that the real beneficiary and user of the said vehicle was the accused-applicant and he got the said vehicle purchased in the name of Dr Alka Rai by pressuring her and the payment was allegedly made by him.
It has been submitted on behalf of the State that the accused applicant is a known mafia don and gangster. He has been elected five times for the Legislative Assembly of the Uttar Pradesh from Mau Constituency and three times while he was in jail. His name is well known in the crime world and he is the biggest ‘bahubali’ of Uttar Pradesh. He has created an empire in the crime world with the proceeds of crime. There are 56 criminal cases against him, of which 14 are murder cases under Section 302 along with 364-A and 307 IPC etc. Other cases are also for commission of serious offences by him. He enjoys a Robin Hood image and because of his terror, witnesses do not dare to depose him, and if someone dares, he would be finished.
It is alleged that the aforesaid vehicle was recovered from Mohali, Punjab, which was being used by the accused applicant and his henchmen for going to the court from jail. His henchmen would travel in the said ambulance armed with sophisticated weapons to escort him.
It is an irony and tragedy of the Indian republic and biggest scar on Indian democracy that criminals like the accused applicant are the lawmakers, the Court said.
The Court noted that,
Dr Alka Rai in her statement said that under pressure and fear of the accused-applicant, she signed on some papers brought by his men and her signatures were taken on the blank letter pad of the hospital along with seal etc. She further said that she met the accused applicant in jail, and because of the manner in which the accused applicant insisted to buy ambulance, out of fear and terror of the accused applicant, she put her signatures on the papers brought by his men. This ambulance was being used by the accused applicant and she could come to know this fact on 31.3.2021 that the accused-applicant was using the said vehicle for going to the court in Mohali, Punjab from jail.
She further said that after the news channel made the disclosure of the above incident, his men told her what was required to be said by her to the police. If she was asked by the investigating agency, she would tell that she purchased the said vehicle by giving her permanent address at Barabanki and, thereafter, she was shifted to Mau, and she was running the ambulance from Mau itself. She was told to say that Afsa Ansari, wife of the accused applicant, had taken the said ambulance on rent 4-5 days before as she had to travel to Punjab to bring back her husband, an ambulance would be required as she was having trouble/pain on her neck. Dr Alka Rai was threatened that if she would not tell whatever was told, her hospital and she would be finished.
There are statements of other co-accused, who have corroborated the allegation against the accused-applicant regarding purchase of the said ambulance on the basis of the forged and fabricated documents in the name of Dr Alka Rai for the use of the accused-applicant.
Anand Yadav, one of the co-accused, had said that one Surendra Sharma S/o Indrasen Sharma, Saleem S/o Badruddin and Firoz used to drive the said ambulance. The accused applicant and his men, Afroz, Shahid and Zafar @ Chanda would keep sophisticated and modern illegal weapons in the said ambulance, which would accompany the accused applicant. Once in Lucknow at Hazratganj Crossing, a reporter clicked the photograph of the said ambulance, and then henchmen of the accused applicant assaulted the said reporter badly. All these persons are close, confident and associates of the accused applicant.
The allegation is that the ambulance was being used by the accused applicant to carry his men with sophisticated arms to escort him from jail to court in order to avoid any untoward incident. A photograph has been placed on record, which would demonstrate that when the accused applicant came to the court in Mau, the said ambulance and his men accompanied him.
“The long criminal history of the accused-applicant of most heinous offences and looking at the facts of the case that the ambulance was allegedly being used to carry his men armed with illegal and sophisticated weapons for his protection, the Court found that there is no ground to enlarge the accused-applicant on bail. The accused applicant commands in-parallel fear in the minds and hearts of the people that no one dares to challenge him and his men and his politics. If the accused applicant is enlarged on bail, the apprehension of the prosecution that he would tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses, cannot be ruled out.
Considering all these aspects, the Court finds no ground to enlarge the accused-applicant on bail,” the Court observed while rejecting the bail application.