BSP leader and gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari will be presented at Punjab’s Mohali court and Lucknow court in Uttar Pradesh on Monday (April 12).
Ansari, who is at present in Banda jail will appear in these courts virtually today. In Mohali court, a case of extortion will be heard while in Lucknow, charges are to be decided in a 21-year-old case of assault with the jailor and deputy jailor.
UP Police on April 7 brought Ansari, who is the sitting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA from Mau Vidhan Sabha seat to Banda prison. He had spent over two years in Punjab prison.
According to the Police, around 52 cases are registered against Ansari in Uttar Pradesh and other states.
Earlier in February, the UP government accused the Punjab government in the Supreme Court, alleging that the latter (Punjab) was colluding with Ansari who is wanted in UP in relation to various criminal cases. (ANI)
The BJP-run Uttar Pradesh government accused the Congress government in Punjab of ‘shielding’ Ansari for several months by not letting the state take custody of the wanted gangster. The Yogi Adityanath Government claimed that Ansari’s custody was being denied to the UP Police on trivial grounds ‘under the guise of medical issues’.
Noting that Ansari was allegedly involved in cases of murder, attempt to murder, cheating and conspiracy, apart from offences under the Gangsters Act, the Supreme Court ordered his transfer to the UP jail on March 26. Punjab’s home department asked the UP government to take Ansari’s custody by April 8, following the Supreme Court order that had set a two-week deadline.
The Supreme Court also said a convict or an undertrial who disobeys the law of the land cannot oppose his transfer from one prison to another and the courts cannot be helpless bystanders when the rule of law is being challenged with impunity. As Uttar Pradesh took of the high-profile undertrial, his wife Afshan Ansari moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to the state authorities to ensure his safety, including from ‘fake’ a police encounter.
