The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Abbas Ansari, the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, in an arms licence case, ANI reported.

Abbas Ansari was detained in September after the Chitrakoot district magistrate issued an order under the National Security Act, reported the Deccan Herald.

However, in February, the Allahabad High Court set aside an order for the extended detention of Abbas Ansari, saying that the state had no power to extend the detention period once the original detention period was over.

In October 2019, the police filed a first information report alleging that Abbas Ansari had purchased numerous firearms on a licence while claiming to be a renowned shooter.

Abbas Ansari, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Mau Assembly constituency, belongs to Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party. The party will contest the Lok Sabha elections as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

Meanwhile, on March 14, Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court for MPs and MLAs in the 34-year-old Ghazipur fake arms licence case.

This was Mukhtar Ansari’s seventh conviction in the past 18 months. He has 65 cases against him and has been in jail since 2005, when he surrendered to the police in connection with a communal riot that took place in the town of Mau. Ansari is lodged in the Banda district jail.