Lucknow: Authorities have suspended five prison officials for allegedly providing “special facilities” to gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is lodged in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district jail, an official said.
A second official said Vireshwar Pratap Singh, a deputy jailer, was also accused of obstructing the process of routine check when Banda district magistrate Anurag Patel visited the jail for a surprise inspection. Singh was suspended on the basis of the district administration’s report to the state government. Four jail warders deployed for Ansari’s security were also suspended .
Officials said that items “not mentioned in the jail manual” were found in Ansari’s barrack during the check.
Ansari, a former member of the state assembly from Mau, was shifted to the Banda prison in April last year after spending over two years in a Punjab jail. He was transferred to the Banda jail in compliance with a March 2021 Supreme Court order. Ansari faces trials in several criminal cases in Uttar Pradesh.