COURT-LD ANSARI

NEW DELHI, FEB 4 (PTI)

A sitting independent MLA of Uttar pradesh Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari was today convicted by a designated court under TADA and the Arms Act, nine years after he was arrested for possessing illegal arms.

Additional Sessions Judge S N Dhingra found Ansari guilty under Sec 25 of the Arms Act and Sec 5 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, and fixed tomorrow for pronouncing the quantum of sentence.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Ansari from the vicinity of Bahai temple in South Delhi on December 11, 1993.

A search of the Maruti car in which he was travelling had led to the recovery of several arms including automatic weapons and live catridges, police had alleged. He was later chargesheeted under the Arms Act and TADA.

Ansari's political career had him switching sides from the Samajwadi Party to Bahujan Samaj Party, only to fight the last assembly elections as an independent candidate.

The MLA, who has a history of criminal cases against him, had extended support to Mayawati from jail, when the BJP-BSP coalition was facing crisis late last year.

In August last he had applied to the court to allow him to attend the U P Assembly proceedings in Lucknow. He claimed that a Lucknow Court had allowed him to attend the Assembly proceedings.

Rejecting the plea, the Special Judge said the order of the Lucknow Court is not binding on this court and the TADA case takes precedent over all other criminal cases pending against him.

Following is the URL to the original story. The site may have removed or archived this story. URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=117200