UP takes Mukhtar Ansari's custody, security tightened at Banda jail

Chandigarh/Banda (UP): The Uttar Pradesh police on Tuesday took custody of Mukhtar Ansari, leaving with him from Punjab's Rupnagar jail in a convoy headed 900 km away for a prison in Banda where security has been tightened to hold the gangster-turned-politician.

The transfer of the Bahujan Samaj Party MLA takes place after an order by the Supreme Court, approached by the Uttar Pradesh government which cited the series of criminal cases Ansari faces in his home state.

The BJP-run Uttar Pradesh government has accused the Congress government in Punjab of shielding Ansari for several months by not letting the state take custody.

As UP prepared to take charge of the high-profile undertrial, Ansari's family expressed concerns over his safety while he is brought to the state, and later.

Transfer formalities took about two hours on Tuesday before the MLA from Mau was handed over to the UP team at Rupnagar jail, where he has been lodged since January 2019 in connection with an extortion case.

The police convoy entered Uttar Pradesh through the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Baghpat around 6.00 pm, Allahabad zone Additional Director General of Police Prem Prakash said.

Ansari was taken from the Rupnagar jail in an ambulance and was also medically examined, a Rupnagar jail official said.

A convoy of seven Uttar Pradesh police vehicles, including an ambulance and an anti-riot Vajra van, left the jail premises at 2:08 pm. The vehicles left through another gate, while most of the media waited outside the main gate.

Strict arrangements were in place with barricades put up by the Punjab Police on the road leading to the jail.

As the convoy took the Ambala road some media vehicles gave chase.

The Uttar Pradesh team had reached Rupnagar police lines at 4.30 a.m. on Tuesday and left for the jail around noon for the transfer.