Chandigarh(Punjab): Punjab Jail Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Tuesday accused the previous Congress regime of providing special treatment to gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari when he was lodged at Punjab jail in the state, leading to heated arguments between him and the Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa.
Jail Minister Harjot Bains claimed that Ansari was lodged in Punjab jail for 2 years and 3 months after registering a fake FIR. During this time he lived with his wife, he added. After this, there was a great commotion in the assembly. The Uttar Pradesh government had to move the Supreme Court to get Ansari's custody since it has issued 26 warrants against him but he was not sent from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh
Harjot Bains was speaking during the ongoing budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. "Ansari was given special treatment and his wife stayed with him. Five-star facilities were provided to him, this is a serious issue. I am a Jail Minister and I came across a case in which gangster Mukhtar Ansari was kept in jail for two years and three months in Rupnagar jail."
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"Also, senior lawyers were engaged to save Ansari by the then state government and the fee of a lawyer was Rs 11 lakh for appearing in the case. Rs 55 lakh has been spent on lawyers' fees for Mukhtar Ansari and now he has a bill in this regard. Why should we give the bill of Rs 55 lakh for keeping a gangster? I have ordered for registration of FIR in the case," Bains added.
Following the claim of the present Jail Minister Bains, Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa said that if Ansari's wife was in jail, then Jail Minister Bains should prove it. If he cannot prove his claims then he should resign from his post. He further said that if there was to be a debate on gangsters then it should start with Lawrence Bishnoi. Since Bishnoi is in Tihar jail and it comes under the control of the Delhi government.
In this regard, the AAP MLAs said that Lawrence Bishnoi has been brought to Punjab. The custody of Mukhtar Ansari was handed over to the Uttar Pradesh police in April last year to transfer him to Banda prison. Ansari was kept at Punjab's Rupnagar jail where he had been lodged since January 2019 in connection with an extortion case. The Supreme Court had directed the Punjab government to hand over the custody of Ansari to the Uttar Pradesh police, saying the same was being denied on trivial grounds under the guise of medical issues. (With Agency inputs)
