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Ansari to be lodged in UP’s overcrowded Banda jail, known for high-profile inmates

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 4/7/2021 11:39:45 AM

New Delhi, Apr 6 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and MLA from Mau Mukhtar Ansari will be back in Uttar Pradesh, where he faces a number of criminal cases. Mukhtar Ansari will be kept in barrack number 15 of Banda jail in Uttar Pradesh. Ansari was lodged at Ropar jail in Punjab for the past two years in a case of alleged extortion. He was booked for extortion and criminal intimidation on a complaint by a real estate firm's chief executive officer (CEO). The complainant claimed he received a call where the caller identified himself as "some Ansari from UP" on January 9, 2019 and demanded an extortion amount of Rs 10 crore in exchange for safety. Mukhtar Ansari is one of several muscleman politicians in India. He is a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and an MLA from Mau in Uttar Pradesh. He has been in the Ropar jail in Punjab for over two years. According to the Uttar Pradesh government's affidavit in the Supreme Court, Mukhtar Ansari has avoided as many as 26 warrants issued by a Prayagraj court on medical grounds. He was sent to judicial custody in Punjab in an extortion-threat case. He did not apply for bail despite having been entitled to "default bail" as statutory 90-day period has lapsed. He also opposed being shifted to Uttar Pradesh, where he faces several criminal cases citing threat to his life. Banda jail is often referred to as “kaala paani” (the other name for the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the British rule) as several dreaded criminals, dons and dacoits of the Chambal Valley have been lodged in this prison.