Ansari stay in Punjab jail | Explain why legal fee be not recovered equally from both of you: Govt to Capt, Randhawa

Mann, a senior official said, had cleared the file to get the recovery done from the former CM and Randhawa on Sunday.

While Amarinder has since joined the BJP and is now its national executive member, Randhawa is an MLA and Congress in-charge of poll-bound Rajasthan.

Ansari, a former MLA from Mau, had remained lodged in Ropar Jail from January 2019 to April 2021 in an extortion case registered in Mohali, before the Supreme Court directed the Punjab government to give his custody to the Uttar Pradesh police. During the hearing, the Uttar Pradesh government had informed the Supreme Court that between February 14, 2019, and February 14, 2020, Ansari’s custody was denied to the state police by the Punjab jail authorities 26 times mainly on medical grounds referring to diabetes mellitus, skin allergy, hypertension, backache and throat infection.

The notice issued to Randhawa and Amarinder read: “…Mukhtar Ansari, who was confined in Banda Jail in UP as an accused in a number of heinous crimes, succeeded to get registered a concocted FIR (No. 5 of 2019 u/s 386, 506 IPC) at police station Mataur, District SAS Nagar, against him. After the registration of FIR, he was brought to Puniab on production warrant and was sent to District Jail, Ropar, on 24.01.2019 and stayed there till 06.04.2021”.

The notice further said that “the State of Uttar Pradesh filed a writ (criminal) petition (titled as State of Uttar Pradesh vs Jail Superintendent Ropar and others) in the Supreme Court,” for transfer of Ansari to a jail in Uttar Pradesh.

It further said that the case filed against Ansari in Mohali was “not so important…that transfer application by Uttar Pradesh should have been defended by the State of Punjab by engaging a Senior Advocate and paying a hefty fees”.

“Despite this, both of you engaged a Senior Advocate to oppose the transfer of Ansari even though no public interest or interest of of the State of Punjab was involved. Now, the said Senior Advocate has raised Bills amounting to Rs 55 lakh in this regard…an amount of Rs 17.60 lakh (as per instructions dated 06.10.2017 of Department of Home Affairs and Justice) has become payable to him,” read the notice.

It further said: “It is felt that by engaging a Senior Advocate for defending the case of Ansari was not required as no public interest or interest of the State of Punjab was involved in that case. So, it is felt that the amount liable to be paid to the said Senior Advocate should be recovered equally from both of you as you have proposed and approved, respectively to engage him…for this case. Vide this notice, you are asked to show cause within 15 days as to why the amount mentioned in foregoing para should not be recovered from you”.

Addressing media on Monday, Randhawa said the jails department was not the petitioner but the respondent in the Ansari case. “As per the procedure, Advocate General writes to the respondent department and then the file goes to the CM (for hiring lawyer),” Randhawa said, adding senior advocate Dushyant Dave was hired in the Ansari matter.

Meanwhile, Mann, on his Twitter handle, shared copy of letter written by Randhawa to Amarinder during Congress regime about Ansari. Mann said the letter “exposed the lies of Amarinder and Randhawa who had claimed they did not know anything” about the case.

The CM, in a statement, said, “The letter written by Randhawa to Amarinder on April 1, 2021 clearly shows that both these leaders were well aware of the entire incident. Surprisingly both these leaders are now feigning ignorance about issue and are trying to mislead the people”.

Mann said that these “experienced politicians” tried their level best to save the dreaded gangster and ensure comfortable stay for him in jail. He said that while Amarinder and Randhawa are now claiming that they were not aware about who was lodged in jail “but reality is that they themselves hatched the entire conspiracy” to save Ansari.

He said the two leaders are “trying to mislead the people with their lies but their every sin will be exposed in coming days”.

Mann further said that this was “just the tip of the iceberg” and he will show the “real face” of these leaders through number of proofs he has against them.

In the letter, tweeted by Mann, Randhawa had written to Amarinder stating that he did not know anything about Ansari and also said that his being kept in Punjab jail was bringing a bad name to the Congress party.

Randhawa said the letter was already in the public domain and he had released it himself to the media during Amarinder’s regime. He also said that from the letter it was clear that he did not know anything about Ansari’s presence in Ropar jail. “The letter is clear. One can read it and know if I was responsible to keep Ansari in Ropar jail in any manner.”

Attacking Mann, he said, “I do not want to play Twitter-Twitter with you. But I will fight this case legally and teach you a lesson”.