Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court on Monday stayed the arrest of SP’s Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, the elder brother of late gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, after a file related to the purchase and sale of a firearm on his licence allegedly went missing.Police said the records were deliberately removed in collusion with the concerned arms clerks. Based on the investigation, three FIRs were registered at Kotwali police station in Ghazipur against Afzal, former arms clerk Gaurishankar Lal and another arms clerk, Sugriv Tiwari, under charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and relevant provisions of the Arms Act, which were challenged in the petitions.The FIRs were lodged by the police after allegedly uncovering the missing official records, irregularities in weapon transactions and an untraceable rifle purchased on the MP’s licence.The division bench comprising Justice Siddharth Varma and Justice Achal Sachdev stayed the arrest of Afzali while granting time to govt counsel. The court directed to list the case after three weeks.According to the petitioner’s counsel, FIRs were registered in July 2026 over the missing official documents dating back to 1983-87, making the action “highly belated”.
