ILNS: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a transfer petition filed by the state of Uttar Pradesh seeking the transfer of Uttar Pradesh MLA Mukhtar Ansari from the Ropar jail in Punjab to the Banda jail in Uttar Pradesh.
A Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R. Subhash Reddy directed that Ansari should be handed to Uttar Pradesh within two weeks and he shall be lodged in Banda jail.
The Court was seized of two transfer petitions, one filed by UP government seeking transfer of Ansari from Punjab to UP and another by Ansari, who has sought a transfer of cases against him to Delhi. The transfer plea by Ansari was dismissed.
The MLA from Mau Sadar seat was lodged in a jail in UP as an undertrial, when the Punjab Police obtained production warrant against him on a complaint of extortion and criminal intimidation and brought him to Punjab.
He was lodged in Ropar jail in Punjab, when the UP government moved Supreme Court for his transfer back to UP.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, had submitted during the hearing on March 3 that Ansari was “operating his business from Ropar Jail in Punjab”.
Mehta contended that the FIR, which led to the arrest of Ansari by Punjab Police, did not name the MLA specifically and that Ansari was taken to Punjab after he was handed over by Banda Jail Superintendent, without a direction from the Magistrate.
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The concerned jail officer has already been placed under suspension. Further, Uttar Pradesh also raised questions on the veracity of health issues cited by Ansari, added the SG.