New Delhi: Gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother Afzal Ansari -- disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha on Monday after he was convicted and sentenced to four-year imprisonment in a kidnapping-and-murder case -- has received relief from the Allahabad High Court. The court has ordered that Afzal Ansari be released on bail.
The court, however, has refused to freeze the four-year jail term.
Afzal Ansari, a Lok Sabha member from Ghazipur, was sentenced to four years in jail by an MP/MLA court on Saturday. But his Lok Sabha membership was canceled in May due to the conviction by a court in Ghazipur.
He had approached the court, appealing that his sentence be put on hold and requesting that he be allowed bail.
The case involved the murder of then MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanad Rai, on November 29, 2005 along with the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
Mukhtar Ansari was also convicted in the same case as the prime accused and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Mukhtar Ansari has been in prison since 2006. He has over 40 criminal cases against him, including those related to murder and kidnapping.
Afzal Ansari was already serving a jail term when he was named to contest for the Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat by Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BSP had expelled Mukhtar Ansari in 2010 for criminal activities.
He later formed his own party -- the Quami Ekta Dal -- and in 2017, merged it with the BSP
"There are bigger goondas (criminals) in other parties," Mayawati had said, justifying her decision to acquire the controversial don-turned-politician.