Chandigarh, (Samajweekly) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator Bikram Singh Majithia on Wednesday asked the Congress government in Punjab to explain why it was keeping ‘underworld don’ Mukhtiar Ansari as a ‘state guest’ in a Ropar jail on a trumped-up charge for two years.
Briefing the media about the issue that he raised during Zero Hour in the assembly, Majithia said crores were being spent to defend Ansari in the Supreme Court even though the government did not have funds for social welfare schemes and government employees.
Asking the government to explain the purpose of keeping Ansari in jail, Majithia said the government was hand in glove with the dreaded criminal to ensure he was not transferred to Uttar Pradesh.
He said Ansari was arrested and brought to Punjab on the basis of a vague complaint against “one Ansari” which was registered at the Mataur police station in Mohali on January 7, 2019.
He said following this the state police registered a case against him on January 8 and presented him in a court on January 22. He said afterwards when Ansari was sent to judicial custody the government got into reverse gear.
“A challan was not presented in the case for 60 days which could have resulted in automatic bail for Ansari but the latter did not apply for it proving both the state and the criminal were moving in conjunction with each other.
“Subsequently, the government is assisting the underworld don to manufacture one excuse after another to ensure he is not moved out of Punjab even for court dates in Uttar Pradesh. All that is left is to give Ansari a cabinet rank to rehabilitate him completely.”
Stating that there was a time when criminals used to run away from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh after committing a crime, Majithia said the opposite was true now.
“Punjab is becoming a hub for criminal activities and gangsters are being allowed a free run in jail as was witnessed in the case of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria also earlier. Gangsters are running extortion rackets and ordering killings from jails even as the jail administration refuses to install jammers.
“The situation has become such that recently even a Congress leader of Faridkot was gunned down by gangsters,” he added.
