In another major action against ganglord-turned-politico Mukhtar Ansari after being brought from Roar Jail of Punjab, the administration attached his property worth Rs 24 crore in Mau on charges of it being illegally possessed by the jailed gangster-MLA. The Mau district administration has also attached several acres of land in the presence of several police officials and personnel on the spot.
As per reports, the property was registered under the name of Mukhtar Ansari's mother who had made a will in the name of her two sons – Mukhtar and Afzal Ansari.
Mukhtar Ansari was brought back from Roopnagar Jail in Punjab to Banda jail in UP in April, after he spent over two years in the Punjab jail in connection with a case of extortion. The action was initiated and the UP police took Ansari's custody after a Supreme Court order.
On March 26, the Supreme Court had ordered Ansari’s transfer to a UP jail for his involvement in cases of murder, attempt to murder, cheating and conspiracy, apart from offences under the Gangsters Act. The SC said that a convict or undertrial, who disobeyed the law could not oppose his transfer from one prison to another and the courts could not be helpless bystanders when the rule of law was being challenged with impunity.
Subsequently, political tussle ensued after the UP government accused the Congress government in Punjab of 'shielding' Ansari for several months by not letting the state take custody of the gangster. The Yogi government alleged that the custody was denied to UP Police ‘under the guise of medical issues' to the inmate by the Punjab government.
Just before Ansari was to be transported to UP, his wife Afshan Ansari moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to the UP government to ensure his personal safety, casting aspersions on a probable move to eliminate him in an encounter during his transit.
On April 8, a convoy of six police vans, a Vajra vehicle accompanied Ansari in an ambulance covering a distance of 882 km spanning three states for over a 16-hour journey.
A five-term MLA from Mau (east UP), Mukhtar Ansari represents the Bahujan Samaj Party. He faces 52 cases in the state and elsewhere. Among these, 15 cases are in the trial stage.