CHANDIGARH, July 2: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said his Government will recover the Rs 55 lakh spent on keeping gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in Rupnagar jail during the previous Congress Government from former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and jail minister Sukhjinder Randhawa.
If the money is not paid by Singh, who is now a BJP leader, and Randhawa, a Congress MLA, then their pension and other facilities will be cancelled, Mann said.
Ansari was in Rupnagar jail from January 2019 to April 2021 in an extortion case registered in Mohali before the Supreme Court directed the Punjab government to give custody of the gangster-turned-politician to Uttar Pradesh Police.
The apex court had also noted that the custody was being denied to the UP Police on trivial grounds under the guise of medical issues. Ansari was later moved to a jail in Banda in Uttar Pradesh.
Mann had earlier attacked the previous Congress Government in the state, accusing it of providing a “comfortable stay” to Ansari when he was in jail.
In a tweet on Sunday, Mann said, “A (legal) fee of Rs 55 lakh for keeping UP gangster (Mukhtar) Ansari in a Punjab jail and fighting his case in the Supreme Court to fulfil friendship will not be paid from the Punjab treasury.”
“This money will be recovered from the then Home Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the then Jail Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. In case of non-payment, their pension and other Government facilities will be cancelled,” he said.
In April, Mann said he refused to clear a file with a bill of Rs 55 lakh as fees of the “expensive lawyers” hired by the previous Government to defend Ansari in the case. He also spoke about recovering the money from the then Ministers.
Apart from ensuring a comfortable stay, the then Government had ensured this “hardcore criminal” does not face any difficulty in jail and escaped the legal action against him, Mann had said.
Former chief minister Amarinder Singh, while reacting to Mann’s statement in April, had taken a dig at him and asked the AAP leader to understand the system before speaking on the matter.
“Mann has just spent nine months in office while I was at the helm for over nine years,” Singh said, suggesting that he had more experience than Mann when it came to running a Government.
“Whenever any police investigation takes place, somebody who is in Tihar or any other jail, the investigating officer has every right to call for that man to come for investigation. If he has committed any crime in Punjab… Then he is brought on transit remand,” the former CM said.
“If Ansari is sitting there (Rupnagar jail) for two years, an investigation is going on and once that is done, they will decide. This is a system which works. This system is not a new thing. I think Mr (CM) Mann should understand this and first he should understand (the issue), then he should speak,” Singh had said.
While hearing the Uttar Pradesh Government’s plea seeking custody of Ansari in March 2021, the Supreme Court had noted that the former MLA from Mau was involved in several cases of attempt to murder, murder, cheating and conspiracy apart from offences under the Gangsters Act lodged in Uttar Pradesh.
The court was also informed by the UP Government that between February 14, 2019, and February 14, 2020, Ansari’s custody was denied to the state police by the Punjab jail authorities 26 times mainly on medical grounds referring to diabetes mellitus, skin allergy, hypertension, backache and throat infection. (PTI)
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