Mukhtar Ansari died of heart attack, not poisoning: UP's Banda district magistrate's report

LUCKNOW: Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari died in prison due to a heart attack and not because of slow poisoning, said a report by the Banda district magistrate on Monday.
The report, corroborating the findings of the post-mortem report, has been submitted to the state administration.
Ansari, who was lodged in Banda jail, died on March 28 this year.
His death was attributed to a heart attack in the post-mortem report, but his family members, including his son Umar Ansari, accused the jail authorities of "killing" him by slow poisoning.
In view of the protests by the family, the state govt had announced a magisterial probe into his death. ADM (judicial) Rajesh Kumar, who led the magisterial inquiry, said that Ansari's family members were summoned multiple times for their statements regarding their allegations, but they never turned up.
Tests on the vomit, jaggery, chickpeas, and salt consumed by Ansari on the day of his death showed no traces of poison.
An autopsy conducted by a panel of five doctors from SGPGI Lucknow, including Dr Satyendra Kumar Tiwari, also confirmed that the cause of death was indeed a myocardial infarction.
In the five-month-long investigation, over 100 statements were recorded, including those from jail security personnel, medical staff, and officials.
The CCTV camera footage from 90 days prior to Ansari's death was also reviewed. The investigation, which included both magistrate and judicial inquiries, found no evidence of foul play or poisoning.
The Forensic Science Lab (FSL) reports, which stated that no trace of poison was found in the chemical analysis of the viscera of Ansari, was also taken in view while arriving at the conclusion.
Additionally, the bed where Ansari died, along with the emergency ward, ICU, and post-mortem house, were inspected as part of the investigation.
Ansari, a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar seat, was in Punjab jail since 2005, before being moved to UP. He had over 60 criminal cases pending against him. He was sentenced in at least eight cases between Sept 2022 and March 2024 by different courts.