Anonymous property refers to assets where the actual beneficiary is not the person in whose name the property is purchased. Often used to hide black money, the revelation of such assets causes an uproar as the real owner, fearing entrapment, denies ownership. Recently, in Uttar Pradesh, the concealed wealth of former gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was exposed.
It is reported that on Thursday evening, former MLA from Mau and mafia don Mukhtar Ansari suffered a fatal heart attack. Ansari's criminal record was chilling to the bone, and beneath his crimes, he accumulated vast wealth. The fear of Mukhtar Ansari was such that without his consent, nobody else could undertake contracts or business in Purvanchal.
Razing Illegal Properties to the Ground
Various agencies have either seized or demolished illegal properties worth about 608 crores out of the estimated 1200 crores. Additionally, more than 2100 crores of Ansari's illegal businesses have been shut down. According to media reports, Mukhtar Ansari and his gang ran contractorship, mining, scrap, liquor, coal trading, railway contracts, and illegal fish trade.
In May 2023, the Income Tax Department seized Mukhtar Ansari's property in Ghazipur under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act (PBPPA). The Income Tax team had attached property worth approximately 20 crores in Ghazipur, registered in the name of Ganesh Dutt Mishra, a close associate of Ansari. Investigations revealed that Mishra was a 'benamidar' (proxy) and the property was, in fact, Ansari's. Ansari's wife, Afsha Ansari, was summoned for inquiry by the Income Tax Department in June 2023, but she did not appear.
As per the Income Tax Department, Mukhtar Ansari had purchased many anonymous properties in the name of Ganesh Mishra. Continuous raids by the department revealed the assets, worth over 120 crores, that were on their radar, with legal processes ongoing. Before this, the police had confiscated 7 crores 17 lakh rupees worth of benami property of gang member Angad Rai.
The identification of illegal and anonymous properties of the Mukhtar gang is ongoing. As members of the Mukhtar gang are being arrested, their illegal assets are also being revealed. The Income Tax Department has named their operation to identify the alleged benami properties 'Operation Panther'.
Accountability of the Illegal Business Empire
Last September, an illegal property was disclosed in Lucknow's Dalibagh, where the Benami Wing of the Income Tax Department seized 1.50 crores worth of Mukhtar Ansari's anonymous property as part of Operation Panther. This residential plot, initially bought by Tanveer Saher of Ghazipur for 76 lakhs, was originally purchased in the name of Mukhtar's wife, Afsha Ansari. In 2010, Mukhtar transferred it to his close associate, Ganesh Dutt Mishra, who sold it to Tanveer Saher in 2020. Even earlier, the Income Tax Department had seized a property of Mukhtar in Ghazipur worth 1.25 crores, which was also purchased in the name of Ganesh Dutt Mishra.
In January 2024, Lucknow police confiscated property in the Madeyganj area, registered under Afroz Khan, a close associate of Mukhtar Ansari. Known as Chunnu, Afroz Khan had created illegal assets in his wife's name, valued at 1 crore 45 lakhs at the time of seizure.
The Arrest of Henchmen Unveils Illegal Trade Secrets
Previously, on December 19, 2023, in Sultanpur, property worth 7 crores belonging to Feroz Ahmed alias Jalish was seized. He was earlier close to Munna Bajrangi and was also involved in the murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai as a member of the Mukhtar gang.
Continuing this series of crackdowns, the Lucknow Development Authority took action against builder Siraj Ahmed, a confidant of Mukhtar Ansari, in late December 2023. FI Hospital and FI Tower faced a massive clampdown by the LDA team on December 24 – sealing FI Hospital and demolishing offices and shops created in the basement of the nine-story FI Tower. It also declared the seventh and eighth floor of FI Tower illegal. Furthermore, on December 29, the Ghazipur Police seized 28 lakh rupees of benami funds belonging to Mukhtar Ansari's brother-in-law, Sharjeel.
Although Mukhtar Ansari amassed illegal wealth worth hundreds of crores, in his election affidavit of 2017, he declared assets of just 21.88 crores. Speaking of liabilities, they amounted to 6.91 crores.
