Mukhtar Ansari to remain in Enforcement Directorate custody for five more days

PRAYAGRAJ: The sessions court in Prayagraj on Friday extended the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody remand of mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari for five more days in connection with a 2021 money laundering case.
The court had on December 14 granted ten-day custody remand of Muktar to ED which ended on Friday.
Sessions judge Santosh Rai fixed December 28 as the next date of hearing when the custody period ends.
Government counsel (criminal) Gulab Chandra Agrahari said Mukhtar was produced before the court through video conferencing on Friday.
It is alleged that Mukhtar was involved in purchase of a land at Ghazipur, where he later got a firm established. In addition to it, he is being inquired by the ED in matters regarding his involvement in other cases, including a money laundering case in which his son and MLA Abbas Ansari is also an accused. At present, the ED is carrying out a probe into the money laundering case lodged against Mukhtar in 2021.
Mukhtar’s wife Afshan Ansari is also wanted by ED in the same case and the agency has issued a lookout notice against her.
Earlier, ED officials had arrested Mukhtar’s son Abbas and brother-in-law Atif Raza in November in connection with the case after receiving information about cash transactions worth several crores to different bank accounts.