Gangster-Politician Mukhtar Ansari Under UP Police Custody; Being Taken To Banda Jail In Ambulance

The Punjab Police had made heavy security arrangements outside the Rupnagar jail as the Uttar Pradesh Police personnel arrived to take Ansari’s custody. The police personnel had also put barricades on the road leading to the jail to ensure no untoward incident takes place when Ansari’s custody is handed over.

A cavalcade arrives ar Ropar Jail to take custody of gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s custody was on Tuesday handed over to the Uttar Pradesh Police at Punjab’s Rupnagar jail to transfer him to the Banda prison following a Supreme Court order. Ansari, lodged in the Rupnagar jail since January 2019 in connection with an extortion case, was taken in an ambulance.

The Punjab Police had made heavy security arrangements outside the Rupnagar jail as the Uttar Pradesh Police personnel arrived to take Ansari’s custody. The police personnel had also put barricades on the road leading to the jail to ensure no untoward incident takes place when Ansari’s custody is handed over.

At the time of filing this report, Mukhtar Ansari's convoy moved inwards of Etawah city. The convoy from there will move towards Kanpur's border and follow the route. It is expected that Mukhtar Ansari will reach his destination (Banda Jail) in the wee hours.   

 

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Earlier on March 26, the Supreme Court had directed the Punjab Government to hand over Ansari’s custody to the Uttar Pradesh Police.

Pronouncing its order, the apex court had said it was being denied on trivial grounds under the guise of medical issues, adding that a convict or an under-trial prisoner, who disobeys the law of the land, cannot oppose his transfer from one prison to another.

Ansari, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Mau Sadar seat, is facing 52 cases in the state and elsewhere. He is facing trial in over a dozen cases.