Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who died of a heart attack in Bonda in Uttar Pradesh had a controversial rendezvous with Punjab as well.
It was during the times when Capt Amarinder Singh was the chief minister of the state and he was brought to Mohali ( Punjab) in 2019 on a production remand following an alleged extortion call supposedly made by Ansari from UP.
He was lodged in Ropar jail for over two years till the Supreme Court intervened and repatriated him to UP. Prior to that the courts in UP had issued altealst over a two dozen warrants to get him back.
The Amarinder Singh government turned down every plea of the UP government saying that on health grounds Ansari could not be shifted out of the Ropa jail where he was supposedly incarcerated.
The Punjab BJP launched a scathing attack on the Amarinder Singh government for protecting a "criminal" wanted by the UP government. Many BJP leaders alleged that since Ansari was related to a senior Congress leader the AICC high command was shielding him downright.
Ansari was shifted to UP in April 2021 following Supreme Court orders. The UP Police had issued warrants and written to Punjab at least 23 times. Finally, it moved the Supreme Court stating that Punjab was “shamelessly” retaining Ansari. It was after the Supreme Court’s orders that Ansari was sent back to Bonda jail in UP.
The two-year jail stint sparked a controversy during the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) rule over the fee to be paid to a lawyer to keep Ansari in the state.
That the Amarinder government had engaged senior lawyer Dushyant Dave for contesting the case in the supreme court, the issue came to light when the AAP government came to power and chief minister Bhagwant Mann ordered the recovery of Rs 55 lakh from former Amarinder Singh and former jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa to pay fees to senior lawyer.
According to the police reports, Ansari was given five-star treatment and some jail officials were hand in glove with him after taking bribes. His family stayed outside the jail for easy access and two of his aides were also in jail after they were booked in some cases,