100-member UP Police team takes custody of Mukhtar Ansari

10 days after Supreme Court directive to Punjab, Uttar Pradesh takes away its most wanted gangster-turned-MLA in an ambulance

Ten days after the Supreme Court directed the Punjab government to hand over gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari within a fortnight to Uttar Pradesh, a 100-member special team of the UP Police took him in an ambulance from the Central Jail at Ropar to Banda jail on Tuesday afternoon.

Mau BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari underwent a series of medical tests in Ropar jail before the UP Police team took him away in an ambulance under tight security on Tuesday afternoon. (Keshav Singh/HT file photo)

Ansari, the Bahujan Samaj Party MLA from Mau, was handed over to the UP police team from Banda district, led by assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Satya Parkash, under heavy security at 2.15 pm.

Earlier, a team of doctors from Ropar district administration conducted all medical tests of Ansari, who has been in the Punjab jail since January 2019 in connection with an extortion complaint by a Mohali-based builder.

Ansari is wanted in several criminal cases in Uttar Pradesh. The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government had to move the Supreme Court for his custody after the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab refused to send him earlier.

The UP Police team, including two inspectors, four sub inspectors and a physician from the Banda district hospital, had reached Punjab past midnight on Tuesday to take him into custody.