Lucknow: When jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of a heart attack in Banda last year, many believed it was a blow to the nexus between crime and politics in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The accused, identified as Sohrab alias Sourav, a native of Lucknow, jumped on furlough after his release from Tihar Jail on May 19. He had got parole in connection with a 2011 murder case in Delhi's ...