Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Varanasi court on Monday for the 1991 murder of Awadhesh Rai. The victim, who was the brother of Congress leader Ajay Rai, was fatally shot on August 3, 1991, at his residence in Lahurabir. Mukhtar Ansari and others were named in the registered case. Ajay Rai welcomed the court's verdict. On August 3, 1991, Congress leader Ajay Rai and his brother were standing at the gate of their house in Varanasi some assailants, including Ansari, came there in a car and and shot Awadhesh.