Varanasi court convicts Mukhtar Ansari in Awadhesh Rai murder case

A Varanasi court in Uttar Pradesh held gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari guilty in the 32-year-old murder case of Awadhesh Rai. The quantum of sentence will be announced shortly today. On August 3, 1991, Congress leader and brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, Awadhesh Rai, was shot dead outside Ajay Rai's house in Varanasi. In this case, Ajay Rai had named Mukhtar Ansari, Bhim Singh and former MLA Abdul Kalim, in the FIR. "Mukhtar has been convicted in the Awadhesh Rai murder case of 1991. The court will pronounce its judgment later in the day," a lawyer told reporters in Varanasi.