Will recover ₹55L spent on keeping Ansari in jail from Capt, Randhawa: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday ridiculed the statement of CM Bhagwant Mann that his government will claim the money paid to Supreme Court lawyers in connection with the detention of Mukhtar Ansari in Punjab.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said his government will recover the ₹55 lakh spent by the previous Congress government to contest the case in the Supreme Court to keep gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in a Punjab jail from former chief minister Amarinder Singh and then jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
If the money is not paid by Singh, who is now a BJP leader, and Randhawa, a Congress MLA, then their pension and other facilities will be stopped, Mann said.
Ansari was in Rupnagar jail from January 2019 to April 2021 in an extortion case registered in Mohali before the Supreme Court directed the Punjab government to give custody of the gangster-turned-politician to Uttar Pradesh Police.
The apex court had also noted that the custody was being denied to the UP Police on trivial grounds under the guise of medical issues. Ansari was later moved to a jail in Uttar Pradesh.
In a tweet on Sunday, Mann said, “A (legal) fee of ₹55 lakh for keeping UP gangster (Mukhtar) Ansari in a Punjab jail and fighting his case in the Supreme Court to fulfil friendship will not be paid from the Punjab treasury.” “This money will be recovered from the then home minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the then jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. In case of non-payment, their pension and other government facilities will be cancelled,” he said.
Later, in a statement, Mann said, “The state government will not pay ₹55 lakh spent on the cosy stay of dreaded criminal Mukhtar Ansari in the jail.”
In April, Mann had said that he refused to clear a file with a bill of ₹55 lakh as fee of the expensive lawyers hired by the previous government to defend Ansari. He also spoke about recovering the money from the then ministers.
While reacting to Mann’s statement in April, the former Punjab chief minister asked the AAP leader to understand the system before speaking on the matter.
Issue has no basis: Randhawa
Reacting to the CM’s announcement, former minister Randhawa said that the payment to the lawyer was never made and the matter was dealt with at the level of the then CM.
“The issue has no basis as the government is trying to create an issue out of nothing so as to camouflage the lathicharge on teachers in Sangrur who were seeking jobs,” he said.
Gain experience before making ignorant statements: Capt
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday ridiculed the statement of chief minister Bhagwant Mann that his government will claim the money paid to Supreme Court lawyers in connection with the detention of Mukhtar Ansari in Punjab.
Reacting to the CM’s statement, Amarinder asked Mann to learn the process of law and investigation before issuing such statements that only expose his ignorance about the process of governance. Amarinder said he had remained CM for nine-and-a-half years, while Mann has not completed one-and-a-half years even and should better first learn and gain experience before making such ignorant statements about the processes of governance.
He said Ansari was brought to Punjab and detained here under due process of law for the investigation. “Where does the CM or for that matter the jails minister come into the picture”, he asked Mann, while advising him to brush up his knowledge of legal and investigative processes.
(With PTI inputs)