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Chitrakoot jail raid: Abbas’s wife arrested, remanded in judicial custody
The wife of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA Abbas Ansari, Nikhat Ansari, was arrested for allegedly illegally meeting her husband in a prison official’s office in the Chitrakoot district jail, on Saturday
The wife of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA Abbas Ansari, Nikhat Ansari, was arrested for allegedly illegally meeting her husband in a prison official’s office in the Chitrakoot district jail, on Saturday.
Nikhat and her driver, Niyaz, were produced before the court and were remanded in judicial custody till February 16.
Sub-inspector Shyam Dev Singh, in-charge of Ragauri police post, lodged an FIR against Ansari, Nikhat Ansari, jail superintendent Ashok Kumar, deputy jailor Sushil Kumar and five prison guards. They have been charged under sections 387, 222, 186, 506, 201, 120-B, 195-A, sections 34, 7, 8, 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act.
All the jail officials and prison guards named in the FIR have been suspended and will face a departmental inquiry by DIG prisons, Prayagraj, Shailesh Maitreya, said the UP prisons department in a statement.
Nikhat Ansari had reached the jail without completing formalities. While she was meeting her husband in the office of the deputy jailor, the district magistrate, Abhishek Anand and SP, Chitrakoot, Vrinda Shukla raided the jail. The district administration officials had specific information about jail officials bending rules to help Ansari and his family.
During the check, two mobile phones, some Dirhams, gold jewellery and eatables were found on Nikhat Ansari, against prison rules, said officials.
Shukla said that during the raid, Abbas Ansari was not found in his barrack but with his wife in the deputy jailor’s office.
On checking the records of people visiting the jail, DM Anand found no mention of Nikhat Ansari’s name, when, in fact, she had visited her husband in jail on numerous occasions.
She was taken into custody as soon as she came out of the jail by the women constables. Officials who did not wish to be named, also said that Nikhat allegedly threatened the police team with dire consequences.
ADG, Prayagraj, Bhanu Bhaskar, said a separate investigation will be conducted into who else the jail administration gave unchecked access to Ansari.
Ansari, the son of jailed mafioso Mukhtar Ansari, has been in the Chitrakoot district jail in a money-laundering case for the last three months.
