Mukhtar's aide shot dead in Lucknow court complex

An unidentified assailant dressed as a lawyer shot dead gangster Sanjeev Maheshwari, alias Jeeva, inside a courtroom in Lucknow on Wednesday, the audacious murder raising fresh questions about law-and-order arrangements in Uttar Pradesh and bringing back memories of a similar shooting in a Delhi court two years ago.

- Rohit Kumar Singh

Two police constables and an 18-month-old girl were also injured as gunshots rang out in the courtroom shortly after Maheshwari, an aide of jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was brought by the police for his appearance in a murder case around 4pm.

Maheshwari had 26 criminal cases against him dating back to 1995. He was serving a life sentence for the 1997 murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Brahm Dutt Dwivedi.

Along with Mukhtar Ansari and gangster Prem Prakash Singh, alias Munna Bajrangi, Maheshwari was one of the co-accused in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, who was sprayed with bullets by a gang of assailants armed with assault weapons, in Ghazipur district on November 29, 2005. Bajrangi was killed in Baghpat jail in 2018.

Lucknow deputy commissioner of police (DCP) West, Rahul Raj, confirmed that the assailant – identified as Vijay Yadav, a resident of Jaunpur’s Kerakat area – was dressed as a lawyer and was already present inside the courtroom before Maheshwari was brought. He fired at least six bullets at the 48-year-old gangster, who suffered wounds on his chest.

Yadav was arrested from the spot, Raj added.

The incident took place in the presence of police personnel and lawyers at the Lucknow district and sessions court complex inside the designated scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) courtroom, said Raj. Maheshwari had at least half a dozen policemen around him when the shots were fired.

The crime brought back memories of the 2021 murder of gangster Jitender Mann, alias Gogi. On September 24, 2021, two men dressed as lawyers opened fire inside a courtroom in Delhi’s Rohini Court complex and killed Maan before being gunned down by police personnel.