A special police team left for Punjab on Monday to take custody of mafia don and Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Mukhtar Ansari and bring him back from the Ropar jail to Uttar Pradesh's Banda jail. Inspector General Chitrakoot K. Satyanarayana said, "After reaching Ropar in Punjab, the team will complete the paper formalities to take his custody and bring him back. Adequate security force is being sent to bring him back to UP safely."
A medical check-up of Mukhtar Ansari may also be done in Punjab before bringing him back to the Banda Jail.
On reaching the Banda jail, he will go for mandatory RT-PCR test and will be quarantined in a secluded high-security cell in the Banda jail.
The IG said that security in the jail has been beefed up and additional force would be deployed at the main gate of the jail and surrounding areas.
High alert has been sounded in Banda and adjoining districts.
"A watch will be kept on all hotels and guest houses to keep an eye on visitors," he added.
On March 26, the Supreme Court had ordered the Punjab government to hand over Mukhtar Ansari back to Uttar Pradesh Police within two weeks, ignoring pleas of the Punjab government.
The Department of Home and Justice, Punjab government had finally written to the Additional Chief Secretary Home, Avanish Awasthi, on April 3 to make suitable arrangements for handing over Mukhtar Ansari to Uttar Pradesh Police before April 8.
Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to investigate mafia don's private bulletproof luxury ambulance case, arrested his henchman Shoaib a.k.a Bobby from Barabanki.
Shoaib's name had figured in the murder of Lucknow Jail Superintendent R.K. Tiwari in 1999. He was, however, let off by the court for want of evidence.
The SIT suspects that Shoaib might have helped the mafia don to get the ambulance registered in Barabanki. The SIT is also keeping a watch on his other henchmen who used to frequent the Ropar Jail to meet Ansari.
On the other hand, Barabanki police reached Mau and grilled BJP leader and owner of Shyam Sanjeevani Hospital Dr. Alka Rai for two hours. Mafia don's ambulance is registered in the name of her hospital.
Meanwhile, the ambulance used to ferry gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to a Mohali court, was found abandoned outside a roadside eatery on the Chandigarh-Nangal highway in Punjab's Rupnagar district.
The police said they have taken the vehicle in their custody.
Rupnagar Deputy Superintendent of Police T.S. Gill told reporters that, "We have taken the ambulance in our custody."
The police said they got information that the ambulance bearing a registration number of Uttar Pradesh was lying abandoned on the roadside.
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