​Not Punjab Govt, Let Former Home Minister Pay Gangster Mukhtar Ansari’s Rs 55-Lakh Case Fee: CM Mann

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will not pay lawyers’ fees of Rs 55 lakh to Uttar Pradesh mobster turned politician, Mukhtar Ansari to fight a case in the Supreme Court and the sum should be recovered from the former home minister in Congress. .

Ansari is currently imprisoned in Punjab Central Jail and serving a life sentence in the murder case of 32-year-old Awadesh Narain. Mann said in a tweet that Ansari was being held in a jail in Punjab because of his “friendship” with leaders from Congress. This money would be recovered from the then Home Minister Amarinder Singh and Prisons Minister Sukhinder Randhawa. In the event of non-payment, their pension and other government benefits will be forfeited.”

The AAP government has accused the former Congress regime of providing “VIP treatment” to Ansari when he was being held in the state’s Rupnagar Jail.

Senior Minister Harjot Singh Baines claimed in the assembly session that Ansari was held in Rupnagar Jail for two years and three months after a “fake” first information report was filed against him. “He (Ansari) received VIP treatment and his wife stayed with him. He was given five-star facilities,” the minister told Parliament, adding, “It is a serious case. I am the Minister for Prisons and I came across a case where gangster Mukhtar Ansari was detained in Rupnagar Jail for two years and three months.”

The minister said the Uttar Pradesh government had to move the Supreme Court to get custody of Ansari.

He further said that senior lawyers had been appointed to ‘save’ Ansari by the then state government, and that the lawyer’s fee was Rs 11,000 lakh for his appearance in the case. He also claimed a bill of Rs 55 lakh on account of the defenders’ fees. “Why should we pay Rs 55 lakh to keep a gangster? I asked for FIR to be registered in the case,” Baines said.