Mukhtar Ansari straddled the worlds of crime and politics in Uttar Pradesh. The gangster-politician was booked in 65 criminal cases ranging from murder to extortion and was elected an MLA five times on the tickets of different political parties. Ansari, 63, died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Banda on Thursday. Born into an influential family in 1963, Ansari entered the world of crime to establish himself and his gang in the government contract mafia that was then flourishing in the state.

His tryst with crime began as early as 1978, when Ansari was just 15 years of age. He had his first brush with the law when he was booked for criminal intimidation at Saidpur Police Station of Ghazipur. Almost a decade later in 1986, by the time he had become a well-known face in the contract mafia circle, another case of murder was lodged against him at Muhammad Police Station of Ghazipur.