In a letter addressed to Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, the Punjab’s home department, has asked the UP Government to take custody of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from Rupnagar jail by April 8 and make necessary arrangements for his transfer.
Referring to the March 26 Supreme Court order that had directed the Punjab government to transfer the MLA from Mau to Uttar Pradesh's Banda jail in two weeks, the Punjab home department has written to UP government to take over the custody of Ansari.
Mukhtar Ansari, who is wanted in various cases in Uttar Pradesh, has been lodged in Rupnagar district jail in connection with an alleged extortion case since January 2019.
"The said handover is to be made at district jail Rupnagar on/before April 8," the letter stated.’
Ansari suffers from certain medical conditions and the same may be kept in mind while making arrangements for his transport from Rupnagar jail to Banda jail in UP, the letter reads.
Meanwhile, in a statement that is bound to create controversy, UP minister Anand Swarup Shukla on April 2 has termed jailed mafia don and BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari as an 'Islamic terrorist'.
Talking to reporters in Ballia, Shukla accused the Congress for allegedly shielding Ansari. "It is in the DNA of the Congress to patronise Islamic terror and anti-social elements. Ansari is also like an Islamic terrorist; hence Congress is standing with him," he said.
On the same day i.e. April 2, a case was also registered in Barabanki district against unnamed persons in the ambulance case involving Mukhtar Ansari.
During his appearance in a Punjab Court on Wednesday, Mukhtar Ansari was brought in an ambulance that had a registration number of Uttar Pradesh.