By Express News Service
LUCKNOW: As the contingent of Uttar Pradesh Police is on its way back after getting the custody of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from Ropar jail authorities, an unprecedented security blanket has been thrown in and around Banda jail where the BSP MLA from Mau would be lodged.
The Punjab Police handed over Ansari to its UP counterparts on Tuesday morning and is escorting the cavalcade bringing the gangster back to UP till the state border.
As part of the security upgradation, hotels and guest houses around the Banda prison are being thoroughly checked. The city outpost in-charge has been instructed to carry out verification of all the visitors staying in the hotels and guesthouses.
Sources said Ansari family’s acquaintance, with whom the family was staying earlier in Khyampar when the mafia don was incarcerated in Banda jail before being taken by the Punjab police in 2019, have also been approached.
The ambulance that was stationed outside the Banda prison on Monday was missing on Tuesday. It has reportedly been reserved for the gangster during his stay in Banda jail.
The UP cops arrived in Punjab in the wee hours on Tuesday to take Ansari into custody. An ambulance also arrived at Rupnagar police station to take him to Banda. The police contingent accompanying the gangster-turned-politician is expected to reach Banda jail by Wednesday morning.
As per sources, a squad of commandos of the Punjab Police accompanying Ansari for his safety.
In a letter to the UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home), the Punjab Home Department had asked the Yogi government to take Ansari’s custody by April 8. Ansari had been lodged in Ropar jail in connection with an extortion case since January 2019.
Meanwhile, the Ropar police barricaded many areas of the city and conducting security checking on all the routes.
It may be recalled that Ansari, who is wanted in Uttar Pradesh in a number of criminal cases, was last Wednesday taken to Mohali court in an ambulance from the Rupnagar jail in connection with the hearing in a case of extortion dated back to 2019.
The mysterious ambulance had a UP number traced to Barabanki district and registered in the name of one Dr. Alka Rai of Mau. The case has been lodged against Dr. Rai for getting the vehicle registered in her name on the basis of fake documents.
Meanwhile, the Barabanki police arrested one Rajnath Yadav who had got the vehicle registered in the name of Dr. Rai by producing her fake documents and also coning her to sign the papers of the vehicle in the name of a charity.
