Former five-time MLA and gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afshan Ansari, who is on the run with at least 11 cases registered against her, missed her husband’s funeral on Saturday after he died after suffering from a cardiac arrest in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda jail.

Ansari’s elder son and Mau MLA Abbas Ansari, who is currently lodged in Kasganj district jail, also missed his father’s last rites, as the petition filed by the former was not being taken up by the Allahabad high court as they were closed due to the holidays. Abbas spoke to his wife, Nikhat, over the phone. “Abbas Ansari had been disturbed and spoke to his wife, Nikhat, on the phone on Saturday,” said jail authorities.

The gangster-turned-politician, 63, was laid to rest at his family’s ancestral graveyard at Kali Bagh in Mohammadabad town of Ghazipur district under tight police vigil on Saturday. The last rites were performed in the presence of Ansari’s younger son Umar Ansari, his brothers Afzal Ansari, Sibgatullah Ansari and Mukhtar’s nephew and Mohammadabad SP MLA Shoaib Ansari. He was buried next to the graves of his parents.

Afshan, who carries a bounty of ₹70,000 on her head, however, is not alone in this list. The fugitive wives of two other mafia-turned-politicians — Shaista Parveen, wife of former MP Atiq Ahmad, and Zainab Fatima, wife of Ahmed’s his younger brother and former MLA Khalid Azim, alias Ashraf — also missed their husbands’ final rites, who were killed in Prayagraj on April 15 last year.

Who is Afshan Ansari?

Afshan Ansari had reportedly taken charge of the Ansari’s business after he was lodged in jail in 2005. According to Live Hindustan, a resident of Darzi Mohalla, Yusufpur in Ghazipur’s Mohammadabad, Afshan is accused in 11 cases, including under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act and has been on the run since 2021.

In 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case against a firm, Vikas Construction, run by Afshan, Mukhtar’s brothers-in-law Atif Raza and Anwar Shahzad and others. The Ghazipur and Mau police had also announced ₹25,000 reward each on her, and issued lookout notices for her. The Ghazipur police later increased the bounty to ₹50,000.

The Economic Times reported that Afshan had contested the 2017 UP assembly elections from Mau on a BSP ticket. She had declared legal possession of an ANP revolver costing ₹2.5 lakh.

The police were keeping a keen eye on the last rites of Ansari in case her fugitive wife decided to turn up, but she did not.

Who are Shaista Parveen and Zainab Fatima?

The UP police has issued lookout notices against slain mafia-politician Atiq Ahmad’s wife, Shaista Parveen, and his slain brother Ashraf’s wife, Zainab Fatima, in connection with the advocate Umesh Pal and his two police guards’ murder case, in which Atiq was one of the prime accused. Pal was shot dead on February 24, 2023, outside his residence in Prayagraj.

Umesh Pal was a prime witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, who was murdered in broad daylight on January 25, 2005 in Prayagraj while he was on his way back home in a car. Atiq and Ashraf were the main accused in the murder.

Shaista Parveen has been on the run ever since her name surfaced in the murder case. A reward of ₹50,000 has also been declared on her arrest. Police teams have carried out raids at several places in Prayagraj and even in other states but have failed to arrest Parveen, Fatima, and Atiq’s sister, Ayesha Noori. The other three accused, assailants Guddu Muslim, Armaan and Sabir, are also on the run.

A special CBI court in Lucknow on Friday convicted seven people in the killing of Raju after 19 years. The convicted persons included Farhaan Ahmad, Abdul Kavi, Ranjeet Pal, Israr Ahmad, Javed, Gulhasan and Abid. The legal proceedings against Atiq, Ashraf, and Gulbul alias Rafiq were abated after their death.