UP Police reaches Punjab's Rupnagar jail to take Mukhtar Ansari's custody

Rupnagar (Punjab) [India], April 6 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Police team reached Punjab's Rupnagar in the early hours of Tuesday morning to take custody of gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, days after the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the BSP MLA from Rupnagar jail in Punjab to UP's Banda jail within two weeks.
On March 26, the Supreme Court had ordered the transfer of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to jail in Uttar Pradesh from Punjab within two weeks, to face trials there.
According to UP Police, around 52 cases are registered against Ansari in Uttar Pradesh and other states.
Earlier in February, the UP government accused the Punjab government in the Supreme Court, alleging that the latter (Punjab) was colluding with BSP leader Mukhtar Ansari who is wanted in UP in relation to various criminal cases.
On his part, Ansari has apprehended a threat to his life in Uttar Pradesh and sought to appear in cases through video conferencing only.
The Uttar Pradesh government had argued that Ansari is being "vociferously defended by the state of Punjab" and that he is enjoying in the Punjab jail.
The top court had dismissed the plea of Ansari seeking transfer of cases pending against him in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.
Ansari, MLA from Mau, has been lodged in a Ropar jail in Punjab since January 2019 where he was named in an extortion case. Several production warrants were issued against Ansari but Punjab Police did not allow him to be shifted to Uttar Pradesh on the grounds of ill health. (ANI)