Rs 55 Lakh Spent On Bid To Keep Mukhtar Ansari In Punjab To Be Recovered From Amarinder, Randhawa: CM Mann

In April this year also, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had refused to foot the bill of legal aid to Ansari and said that he had returned the file concerning the clearance of Rupees 55 lakh bill.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday clarified that his government won’t pay for the legal expenses of Uttar Pradesh gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari for fighting his case in the Supreme Court. The money will be recovered from the then Punjab home minister and jail minister, said the Chief Minister in a tweet. “The fee of Rs 55 lakhs will not be given from the treasury of Punjab to keep UP gangster Ansari in Punjab jail and fight his case in the Supreme Court,” Mann tweeted. 

“The money will be recovered from the then Punjab Home Minister and Jail Minister of Punjab. In case of non-payment, his pension and other government benefits will be cancelled,” he added. 

In April this year also, Mann had refused to foot the bill of legal aid to Ansari and said that he had returned the file concerning the clearance of Rupees 55 lakh bill to be paid to lawyers hired by the previous Congress government during Uttar Pradesh gangster Mukhtar Ansari’s stay in the Ropar Central Jail.

“UP’s gangster was kept in Ropar Jail by facilitating him with all possible needs. He was not presented in court even after having warrants issued against him 48 times. Expensive lawyers were hired with expenditure of ₹55 lakh, but I have returned the file regarding clearing this expense from the money collected through people’s taxes,” he had tweeted. 

Last month, Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1991 Awadhesh Rai murder case. 

The former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA was convicted by an MP-MLA court on June 5 for the murder of Awadhesh Rai, Congress leader and brother of former MLA Ajay Rai, who was shot dead outside Ajay Rai's residence on August 3, 1991, in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. 

In April this year, the gangster-turned-politician was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of Rupees 5 lakh by an MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur in a kidnapping and murder case involving the death of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.