The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed its earlier
order granting interim bail to Uttar Pradesh MLA Abbas Ansari, son of late
gangster Mukhtar Ansari, in a case under the state's Gangsters Act.
On August 31, 2024, an FIR was lodged at Kotwali
Karvi police station in Chitrakoot district under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters
and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, against Ansari and others on
charges of extortion and assault.
On March 7 last year, the top court granted six-week
interim bail to Ansari in the case.
On Tuesday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of
India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took
note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Nizam
Pasha, appearing for Ansari, and regularised the interim bail granted earlier
in the case.
The relief from the top court in March 2025 had
paved the way for Ansari's release from Kasganj jail. He had been granted bail in
all other criminal cases against him.
The bench had imposed certain conditions and later
relaxed a few of them, including that he could not leave Lucknow without the
investigating officer's nod.
Ansari was taken into custody in other criminal
cases on November 4, 2022, and arrested under the Gangsters Act on September 6,
2024.
Granting him relief in March last year, the bench
noted that he was granted bail in all other criminal cases except the Gangsters
Act case.
On December 18, 2024, the Allahabad High Court
rejected Ansari's bail plea in the case.
Navneet Sachan, Niyaz Ansari, Faraz Khan and Shahbaz
Alam Khan are the other accused in the case.