A special court here on Friday sentenced gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to five-and-a-half year’s imprisonment for death threat to a coal trader in 1997. \
Along with the imprisonment, the MP-MLA court of Ujjawal Upadhyay also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on Ansari after convicting him for threatening to kill Mahaveer Prasad Ranguta, the victim’s counsel Vidhan Chandra Yadav said.
Ansari had threatened to blast Ranguta, a Varanasi resident, and his house in January, 1997, Yadav said.
The court completed the hearing in the case on December 5 but reserved its judgment. The bench convicted Ansari and announced the quantum of punishment on Friday, he added.
