Supreme Court allows Abbas Ansari's bail plea in arms licence case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the bail plea filed by mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's son Abbas Ansari, who was booked by the Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly procuring foreign guns on the pretext of shooting competitions.

“Taking into consideration the period of incarceration and the nature of allegations, we find that the petitioner deserves to be granted the benefit of bail,” said a Bench presided over by Justice B.R. Gavai.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Sandeep Mehta, ordered that Abbas Ansari will be released on bail on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the trial court.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Abbas Ansari, submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the instant case. “Unfortunately, he is suffering because of his lineage,” Sibal said.

On the other hand, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Garima Prasad opposed the application saying that the petitioner has been involved in different criminal activities.

Earlier in January, the top court had issued a notice on the bail plea and sought the response of the UP government within a period of four weeks.

The Allahabad High Court in November last year had rejected the regular bail application filed by Abbas, saying that he imported a pistol, a rifle and six barrels in violation of the import permit issued by the National Rifle Association of India besides importing two barrels of prohibited bores and a pistol with three spare barrels without permit.

Further, the Allahabad High Court had noted that Abbas got a revolver endorsed and had 4,431 cartridges in his possession.

A Bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the HC had said that Abbas -- being a sitting MLA representing the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party -- was expected to respect the laws of the land more as compared to any other person.

Allegedly, Abbas had projected that he had got the arms licence that was issued in Lucknow, transferred to Delhi. However, he continued to use both the licences on two different UIDs.

In 2019, an FIR was registered against Abbas at the Mahanagar Police Station in Lucknow under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 30 of the Arms Act.

Later, the probe into the matter was handed over to the UP STF. The investigation revealed that Abbas, using Mukhtar Ansari's international contacts, allegedly procured sophisticated weapons from Sylvania in the name of shooting competitions, but the weapons were used in illegal activities, and not in any competition.