A total of 25 mafias have been identified across the state since January 2020 till April 2021: Police
The Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged 5,558 FIRs under the Gangsters Act from January 2020 till April 2021 and attached ill-gotten properties worth around Rs 1,128 crore belonging to mafias and their gang members, according to official data.
Action has been taken under the Gangsters Act against 22,259 alleged criminals, including those belonging to the gangs of Mukhtar Ansari, Ateeq Ahmed and Sundar Bhati, during the period, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said.
The ill-gotten properties have been attached under Section 14(1) of the Gangsters Act, which allows attachment of illegal properties, in order to effectively curb gangsters, mafias and criminals and their associates, the officer said.
"A total of 25 mafias have been identified across the state since January 2020 till April 2021. During this period, 5,558 FIRs were lodged under the Gangsters Act and action taken against 22,259 criminals, with the police attaching their ill-gotten properties, both movable and immovable, worth over Rs 1,128 crore," according to a police statement.
Among the key anti-social elements, 102 FIRs were lodged and 110 gang members of mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is currently in a Banda jail, arrested during the period, police said.
Their ill-gotten properties, including those of Ansari, worth over Rs 194 crore either attached or demolished or their illegal occupation removed from encroached land, police said.
Action was also taken against 89 gang members of Ateeq Ahmed, who is currently in a jail in Gujarat. Twenty-one FIRs have been lodged against them and nine of them arrested, police said.
Police attached or demolished ill-gotten properties worth Rs 325 crore of the gang, including that of Ahmed, it added.
Sundar Bhati, a dreaded mafia of western Uttar Pradesh, is currently lodged in a jail in Sonbhadra and properties worth over Rs 63 crore belonging to him and his gang members like Sinhraj Bhati have been attached since January 2020, police said.
Mafia Dhruv Kumar, alias Kuntu Singh, who is lodged in a Ballia jail, also met with action by police, which has attached his ill-gotten properties worth over Rs 17 crore.
Action has also been taken against several gangsters in the state under provisions of stringent laws, like the Goonda Act and the National Security Act, while licences of their around 400 firearms cancelled during the period, police added.