Security arrangements have been strengthened outside the residence of Mukhtar Ansari in Ghazipur and a burial ground in the Uttar Pradesh district ahead of the last rites of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari on Saturday.

The last rites of Mukhtar Ansari, who died due to a cardiac arrest on Thursday and whose body was brought to his home town around midnight on Friday, is scheduled to be held around 10 am, sources in the family said.

Rituals related to Ansari's burial are underway and the body will be taken to the Kali Bagh burial ground where a grave was dug on Friday, the sources said.

Security personnel in large numbers have been deployed around the Ansari residence and the burial ground, which is located at distance of about a kilometre and a half.

In a post on X on Friday, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and Mukhtar Ansari's nephew Suhaib Ansari informed: "My uncle Mukhtar Ansari passed away last night. Tomorrow, at 10 am, he will be buried in our Kali Bagh graveyard of Yusufpur Mohammadabad (Ghazipur). All of you are requested to pray for the forgiveness of the deceased." After the post-mortem on Friday, a convoy carrying Ansari's body left Banda for his native place in Ghazipur at around 5:30 pm amid heavy security.

The ambulance carrying the body was accompanied by police vehicles along the 400-kilometre route via several Uttar Pradesh districts.

Mukhtar Ansari, who was lodged in the Banda jail, was rushed to the Rani Durgawati Medical College on Thursday night when his health condition deteriorated. He died at the hospital during treatment.

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