Complainant hostile, Mukhtar acquitted in murder-bid case

VARANASI: A Ghazipur court on Wednesday acquitted jailed mafia don Mukhtar Ansari in a 2009 attempt-to-murder case for insufficient evidence as even the complainant in the case had turned hostile. Mukhtar was accused under IPC sections 307 (murder attempt) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) in this case. He appeared before the court through videoconferencing from Banda jail.
Additional district government counsel (criminal) Neeraj Kumar Srivastava said, "During the trial, complainant Mir Hassan and prime witness Ramkrit Yadav had turned hostile and Mukhtar got its advantage. Most of the process of hearing and trial in this case had been completed in Prayagraj's MP-MLA court before it was transferred to Ghazipur."
"In 2009, one Mir Hassan had lodged an FIR in which Mukhtar Ansari had been made co-accused under IPC Section 307 despite the fact that he was lodged in jail then. During investigation, IPC Section 120B was also added and the chargesheet against Mukhtar was filed before the court in 2010. The main accused in the case was already acquitted due to lack of evidence," Mukhtar's lawyer Liyaqat Ali told TOI.