New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday directed the Punjab government to hand over the custody of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is lodged in Rupnagar jail there, to Uttar Pradesh Police.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy said that the custody of Ansari, an MLA from Mau constituency, be handed over to the state of Uttar Pradesh within two weeks.
The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari is running his illegal activities from the Rupnagar district jail in Punjab where he is lodged currently.
The UP government on March 3, this year, moved the top court seeking a direction to the Punjab government and Rupnagar jail authority to immediately hand over the custody of Ansari, an MLA from Mau constituency, to district jail Banda.
On March 4, the top court was informed by the Punjab government that the Yogi Adityanath-led government has got no fundamental right to seek Ansari's transfer from Rupnagar jail.
The UP government has referred to the prison rules and said that though the state itself does not have fundamental rights, it can espouse the cause and the fundamental rights of the victims and it may assume the position of the victim.
Welcoming the Supreme Court decision, BJP Spokesperson, Harish Chandra Srivastava said that the Congress leadership has been sheltering Ansari since the day he was lodged in jail. The decision of the Court comes as a major victory for the UP government. We have been demanding his transfer since day 1, but, the Punjab government has been shielding the minister for their vested interest", added Srivastava.
Once a top cricketer of UP, Ansari stepped into the blind alleys of the underworld in the early eighties.
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The don reportedly executed more than a dozen gangland shootings in Varanasi and other parts of eastern UP. He was also named as prime accused in the murder of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai.
Ansari feared he may be killed in a police encounter or eliminated in jail by his rivals when the BJP took over the reins of the government in UP in 2017.
In early 2019, the don was lodged in the district jail of Rupnagar in Punjab in connection with an extortion case. Since then UP's Yogi government is trying to seek his transfer from Punjab to UP.
At present, Ansari is an MLA from the Mau constituency in eastern UP from where he has been elected as a member of the legislative assembly five times.
(With inputs from agencies)
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