A MP-MLA court here has on Saturday convicted mafia don Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari in the BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai’s murder and kidnapping and murder of a businessman of Varanasi.

While Mukhtar, who is lodged in the Banda jail, was awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh, his brother Afzal, BSP’s Lok Sabha member from Ghazipur, was got a four-year jail term and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

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Now, by virtue of the provisions contained in Article 102 r/w section 8 (3) of the Representation of People Act 1951, Afzal Ansari, a two-time MP and five-time MLA, who defeated BJP stalwart Manoj Sinha in the 2019 LS polls, will lose his MP seat and will be barred from contesting any polls.

This is the first conviction for Afzal. It is a big setback for Ansari brothers and fourth conviction of Mukhtar.

Last year, Mukhtar was handed a 10-year imprisonment in another Gangster Act case.

Afzal was present in the court while Mukhtar was attending the hearing from Banda jail through video conferencing when the Special MP MLA judge pronounced his judgement.

The case was registered under the Gangster Act against the Ansari Brother after they were booked for their involvement in the kidnapping of Vishwa Hindu Parishad office-bearer Nandkishore Rungta in the year 1996 and also in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in the year 2005.

Case number 1051 of the Gangsters Act was registered against Mukhtar. Similarly, another case under the same Act 1052 was registered against BSP MP Afzal for involvement in the murder. Both cases were lodged in the Mohammadabad police station of the district.

There were 10 prosecution witnesses in the case.

On September 21 last year, the Allahabad High Court, while hearing an appeal, sentenced Ansari to seven-year imprisonment in a 2003 case of assault on a jailer. A day later, the court, in another case, sentenced him to five-year jail term in a case registered against him under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act in Lucknow in 1999.

On December 15 last year, a court in the Ghazipur district convicted Ansari under the Uttar Pradesh Gangster Act and sentenced him to 10 years in jail along with his alleged associate Bheem Singh. The case in which he has been convicted dates back to 1996 when the Ghazipur Police booked him under the Gangster Act.

Seven people, including BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, were killed in more than 400 rounds firing with sophisticated weapons like AK-47 in Siyadi village under the Bhanwarkol police station of Ghazipur on November 29, 2005.