Chandigarh, Mar 26 (IANS): The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry into the 'criminal conspiracy' under which underworld don Mukhtar Ansari was given political shelter by being kept as a 'state guest' in a Punjab jail on a trumped up charge for two years.
Welcoming the Supreme Court judgment which directed that Ansari be transferred to Uttar Pradesh to answer for his crimes there, SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said the verdict has lowered Punjab's image in the country.
"An impression has gone out that the Congress government in Punjab can stoop to any level to extend protection to a criminal. The verdict is an indictment of the state government which has misused its powers to prevent the transfer of Ansari to Uttar Pradesh for two years. The government must answer as to what were its motives to harbor a hardened criminal in its jails and why it went to the extent of spending a huge amount of money to hire top lawyers to oppose Ansari's transfer to Uttar Pradesh," Cheema said.
Cheema demanded that the inquiry should cover all these aspects as well as the 'case' in which Ansari had been arrested and brought to Punjab after a property dealer received a threat from 'one Ansari' on January 7, 2019.
He said despite the vague nature of the complaint, the Mohali police moved with lightening speed to register a case in the matter the very next day, got a production warrant against the gangster on January 12 and presented him in court on January 22.
The SAD spokesman said following this the Mohali police moved into reverse gear and failed to present a challan in the case for 60 days. He said Ansari also did not apply for bail and the state government was content with not only keeping him in jail but also providing one excuse after another to him to prevent him from being transferred to Uttar Pradesh.
Cheema said the conduct of the Punjab government had sent a wrong example. He said if state governments were not ready to cooperate with another how we could expect other countries to repatriate criminals to India.
He said such actions only served to embolden criminals and could lead to a further increase in crime in the state.