LUCKNOW: Alka Rai, the widow of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and Ghazipur MLA, on Sunday slammed the Congress government in Punjab and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for not transferring Mau MLA Mukhtar Ansari to UP. Ansari is an accused in the murder of Krishnanand Rai and is currently lodged in Ropar jail in Punjab.
“I want to request the Congress government and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi not to shield a dreaded criminal like Mukhtar,” Rai said. Her statement came a day after Ghazipur police reached Punjab with the Supreme Court notice ordering transfer of Ansari to Uttar Pradesh.
“I came to know that the Punjab government did not accept the notice. They should send Mukhtar to UP so that justice in the case pending against him could be done,” Alak Rai, MLA from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur, said.
The UP government had filed a criminal petition in the apex court to bring Ansari to Ghazipur jail. The next hearing in the SC is on Monday.
In October last year, Rai had written a letter to Priyanka asking why the Congress government in Punjab was shielding Mukhtar. She had also claimed in the letter that it was not possible that Priyanka and her brother Rahul Gandhi were not aware of the Punjab government’s attempt to protect Mukhtar Ansari.
Rai has filed a petition in the Delhi high court challenging Ansari’s acquittal in the murder of her husband.
Former UP DGP AK Jain said Ansari was being given political patronage by the Punjab government which was not allowing his transfer to UP on medical grounds. “Despite SC notice, Ansari has not been handed over to UP Police and this is a cause of concern,” he said.