Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday handed over keys to beneficiaries of new flats built on land once illegally occupied by mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in Lucknow’s upscale Dalibagh area, a government statement said.

The statement said that 72 families from the Economically Weaker Section received homes during a ceremony held at Ekta Van, located opposite the residence of the Director General of Police.

During the event, Adityanath personally handed keys to 10 beneficiaries. The statement added that the flats were built under the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Housing Scheme and priced at Rs 10.70 lakh each, with the allotment process completed through a lottery held on Tuesday.

Lucknow Development Authority Vice Chairman Prathamesh Kumar said the housing project showed the chief minister’s strict stand against the mafia and his commitment to reclaiming illegally occupied government land across Uttar Pradesh.

He said the LDA constructed three G plus 3 buildings, each containing 72 flats of 36.65 square metres, on about 2,322 square metres of land recovered from Ansari’s possession.

According to the statement, online registrations for the scheme were open from October 4 to November 3 and received nearly 8,000 applications.

Mukhtar Ansari, aged 63, a jailed gangster-turned-politician, died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, on March 28, 2024. He had been a five-time MLA from the Mau Sadar constituency and remained in jail in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab since 2005.

By September 2022, Ansari had faced over 60 criminal cases and was convicted in eight of them by different courts in Uttar Pradesh. He was serving his sentence in Banda Jail and was included in a list of 66 gangsters released by the Uttar Pradesh Police last year.