SC directs Punjab to hand over custody of Mukhtar Ansari to UP police in 2 weeks

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Punjab government to hand over the custody of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is lodged in Rupnagar jail there, to Uttar Pradesh Police.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy said that the custody should be handed over to the state of Uttar Pradesh within two weeks.

The top court delivered the verdict on the plea of the Uttar Pradesh government seeking a direction to the Punjab government and Rupnagar jail authority to immediately hand over the custody of Ansari, to the district jail Banda.

On March 4, the top court was told by the Punjab government that the Yogi Adityanath-led government has got no fundamental right to seek Ansari’s transfer from Rupnagar jail to the district jail in Banda in Uttar Pradesh.

Ansari is lodged in district jail Rupnagar in Punjab in connection with an alleged extortion case since January 2019.

He is also accused in several cases of heinous crimes lodged in Uttar Pradesh.