A team of Uttar Pradesh police, comprising 150-member Provincial Armed Constabulary team equipped with sophisticated weapons, on Tuesday took custody of  gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari at Punjab’s Rupnagar jail even as his wife Afshan Ansari approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to Uttar Pradesh Police to ‘not kill’ her husband in a fake encounter and allow him to face a ‘free and fair trial.’

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Mukhtar Ansari’s transfer follows the Supreme Court orders of March 26 that said he should be shifted to a jail in Uttar Pradesh, keeping in view the fact that he is allegedly involved in many criminal cases there.

Who is Mukhtar Ansari?

Ansari is a politician from Uttar Pradesh who has been elected as a member of the legislative Assembly from the Mau constituency a record five times on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. He had, earlier in 2010, been expelled from Mayawati’s party and had floated his own outfit Quami Ekta Dal. But in 2017, he rejoined the BSP and merged his outfit with the party. In the subsequent assembly election, he once again won from Mau seat.

What are the cases against him?

Ansari has been in Punjab jail since January 2019 for an extortion case but faces 52 cases in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, and 15 of them are in the trial stage. He is also accused in the murder of BJP MLA Krishna Nanda Rai, whose wife and BJP MLA Alka Rai had recently accused the Congress government in Punjab of helping Ansari evade court proceedings.

Crackdown on his gang

The UP government has initiated strong action against Mukhtar Ansari and his aides by dismantling their empire under the Gangster Act. They have arrested 96 criminals and so far seized, freed or demolished property worth Rs 192 crore linked to the MLA and his associates, reports PTI. Arms licences of 72 criminals of this gang have been cancelled or suspended. Action has also been initiated against seven contractors of this gang, a police statement said.

Where will he be lodged in UP?

Amid apprehensions expressed by Ansari’s family over his security in a UP jail, acting Superintendent of the Banda District Jail Pramod Tiwari said all arrangements have been made in Barrack Number-15 for Ansari and no other prisoner can access the area. “Three prison guards will be deployed inside the barrack,” he said.

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What is Ansari’s worth?

“The estimated worth of properties of Mukhtar Ansari and his aides seized/demolished/freed stands at over Rs 192 crore,” the statement said.