A special police team of Uttar Pradesh Government has left for Punjab on Monday to shift mafia don and Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Mukhtar Ansari from the Ropar jail to Uttar Pradesh's Banda jail.
Inspector General Chitrakoot K. Satyanarayana said, "After reaching Ropar in Punjab, the team will complete the paper formalities to take his custody and bring him back. Adequate security force is being sent to bring him back to UP safely."
As recommended by Punjab Government, a medical check-up of Mukhtar Ansari may also be done before bringing him back to the Banda Jail.
Besides, on reaching the Banda jail, he will go for mandatory RT-PCR test and will be quarantined in a secluded high-security cell in the Banda jail.
The IG said that security in the jail has been beefed up and additional force would be deployed at the main gate of the jail and surrounding areas. High alert has been sounded in Banda and adjoining districts.
"A watch will be kept on all hotels and guest houses to keep an eye on visitors," he added.
On March 26, the Supreme Court had ordered the Punjab government to hand over Mukhtar Ansari back to Uttar Pradesh Police within two weeks, ignoring pleas of the Punjab government.
The Department of Home and Justice, Punjab government on April 3 finally written to the Additional Chief Secretary Home, Avanish Awasthi to make suitable arrangements for handing over Mukhtar Ansari to Uttar Pradesh Police before April 8.
Meanwhile, the ambulance used to ferry gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari to a Mohali court, was found abandoned outside a roadside eatery on the Chandigarh-Nangal highway in Punjab's Rupnagar district. The police said they have taken the vehicle in their custody.
Rupnagar Deputy Superintendent of Police T.S. Gill told reporters that, "We have taken the ambulance in our custody."
The police said they got information that the ambulance bearing a registration number of Uttar Pradesh was lying abandoned on the roadside.