New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday, April 7, visited the family of deceased gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. Akhilesh Yadav met the family of Ansari at Ghazipur and compared the death of Ansari with that of Navalny. 

After meeting the family of Ansari, Akhilesh Yadav raised doubts on his death. “Whatever happened was shocking for everyone. What's even more shocking is, that Mukhtar Ansari himself said that he is being poisoned. How can we accept that this was a natural death? Even in Russia, the leader of the opposition was poisoned and killed inside jail.”

Hailing the "contribution" of Ansari's family, Yadav claimed that due to the work done for the poor, he won elections from jail and his grandfather and maternal grandfather were freedom fighters - the face that the government wanted to hide.

Attacking the Uttar Pradesh government, Akhilesh Yadav said, "Did Manu and Umar Ansari's grandfather not have any role to play during the freedom struggle? The government wants to hide these things. He (Mukhtar Ansari) was not how he was presented to the people. This family is still involved in the welfare of the poor. This is why thousands of people gathered here and gave a message to the family that they stand with the them in these times."

On Saturday, a poster was also put outside the Samajwadi Party's Lucknow office asking people to not celebrate Eid. The poster carried the image of convicted gangster Mukhtar Ansari along with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav. The posters were later removed. 

Akhilesh Yadav Came To Boost Our Confidence: Ansari's son 

Mukhtar Ansari' son said that Akhilesh Yadav came to boost the confidence of the family and he was like a guardian. "Akhilesh Yadav came and met us, he boosted our confidence. My relationship with my father is different, but millions of others considered my father as their messiah. He gave courage to not just the family, but to all the followers of my father. We will fight a legal battle and have faith in our judiciary," said Mukhtar Ansari's son Umar Ansari. 
 

Judicial Inquiry Ordered in Ansari's Death 

Mukhtar Ansari, a five-time MLA, died last week at Rani Durgawati Medical College after being taken there from Banda jail when his health deteriorated. He was laid to rest in Ghazipur amid a blanket of heavy security. Ansari had been behind bars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005 and had over 60 criminal cases against him. 

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which bars large gatherings, were imposed across the state and additional security personnel deployed in the Banda, Mau, Ghazipur and Varanasi districts after Ansari'd death. 

A post-mortem confirmed that he died of cardiac arrest. However, a judicial inquiry was by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Banda after the opposition parties raised questions over Ansari's death. Ansari's family has also alleged that he died due to "slow poisoning" in Banda jail.