Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday declared that the State Government will not pay Rs 55 lakh spent on the “cozy stay” of Uttar Pradesh-based dreaded criminal Mukhtar Ansari in the State’s jails and the amount will be recovered from former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and former Deputy Chief Minister and Jails Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa.
At the same time, the Chief Minister also made it clear that in case, the two failed to pay the amount, “their pensions and other benefits will be stopped to recover this money”.
In an statement, Mann said this was a serious crime against the State and its people and those involved in it will have to pay for it.
“For reasons best known to them, both Captain and Randhawa extended largesse to notorious gangster for his comfortable stay in jails of Punjab. Why should the State waste taxpayer’s money in this way just because those in power at that time had a strong bond with Ansari,” he said.
Notably, during Capt Amarinder’s regime, Ansari was lodged at Ropar jail in connection with an extortion case from January 2019 to April 2021. At that time, senior Congress leader Randhawa was heading the Jails Department.
Ansari was brought to Punjab on a transit remand from UP in connection with an FIR accusing him of seeking a ransom of Rs 10 crore from a builder in Mohali’s Sector 70. However, the challan regarding the same was never presented in the court.
“This is brazen loot of the public money which cannot be tolerated. For reasons best known to the previous regimes, this notorious criminal was kept in Ropar Jail with full comforts. Apart from ensuring comfortable stay, the State Government ensured that this hardcore criminal does not face any sort of difficulty within the jail and escapes the legal action against him,” said Chief Minister Mann.
The Chief Minister said surprisingly, the then Government spent Rs 55 lakh of tax-payers’ money to safeguard the interests of this criminal lodged in Ropar Jail.
“This atrocious loot of the public money is totally unwarranted and undesirable…This open plundering of the common man’s money cannot be tolerated at any cost,” he declared.
“Captain and Randhawa will have to pay this money from their own pocket else their pensions and other benefits will be stopped to recover this money,” he said, adding that everyone involved in this heinous crime will be made accountable for their sins.