Overview
- Justice Raj Beer Singh’s 12 March order set aside the Ghazipur District Magistrate’s attachment and a Special Judge’s endorsement concerning Mansoor Ansari’s property.
- The court said mere familial relationship to late gangster‑politician Mukhtar Ansari cannot justify attachment under the UP Gangsters Act.
- The judgment criticized the DM’s action as “wholly arbitrary” and faulted the Special Judge for ignoring evidence presented by the appellant.
- Clarifying Section 14, the court stressed that “reason to believe” demands objective material beyond suspicion and that the initial burden rests on the state, not on the owner to prove income sources.
- Authorities had initiated attachment in February 2023 over shops/building valued at about Rs 26.18 lakh as alleged ‘benami’ assets, even though no Gangsters Act case was registered against Mansoor Ansari.