Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari had not always been healthy and was ill for a long time, said former Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, OP Singh.
The five-time MLA who faced a series of criminal charges including murder and extortion died on Thursday night at UP's Banda Medical College after suffering a heart attack.
Following his death, the Congress alleged that his demise was an "institutional murder" and demanded a high-level probe into it.
Ansari's family has also been alleging that he was being subjected to "slow poison" in jail.
Responding to the claims of being poisoned, the former DGP said that Ansari had not always remained healthy.
"He has not always been healthy and has been ill for long. Accusing that he was being poisoned is absolutely a baseless allegation," he said while speaking to news agency ANI.
"The situation will become absolutely clear after a postmortem is done... Mukhtar Ansari was a criminal, a don, and a mafia, and his death should not be thought of extensively...," he added.
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Former Deputy Superintendent of Police, Shailendra Singh said, "20 years ago, in 2004, Mukhtar Ansari's empire was at its peak. He would move around in open jeeps in areas where curfew was imposed. That time I recovered a Light Machine Gun, no recovery was made before or after that. I even imposed POTA on him... But the Mulayam Government wanted to save him at any cost."
"He pressurised officials, IG-Range, DIG, and SP-STF were transferred, even I was made to resign within 15 days," Singh said.
"But in my resignation, I wrote my reasons and put it before the people that this is the government you chose, which is protecting and working on the orders of mafias... I wasn't doing a favour to anyone. It was my duty...," he added.