Summary:
VARANASI: The mystery over the ambulance with a UP registration that was used to ferry jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from Ropar jail to Mohali court in Punjab turned murkier on Thursday after cabinet minister and government spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said the ambulance is bullet-proof and owned by Mukhtar Ansari himself and questioned the role of Punjab government in the entire issue.
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VARANASI: The mystery over the ambulance with a UP registration that was used to ferry jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from Ropar jail to Mohali court in Punjab turned murkier on Thursday after cabinet minister and government spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said the ambulance is bullet-proof and owned by Mukhtar Ansari himself and questioned the role of Punjab government in the entire issue.
“A thorough probe will be conducted to find out how an ambulance is being used as a private vehicle by Mukhtar Ansari.
It is a bullet-proof luxury vehicle,” he said.
“It is now for the Punjab government to explain how a jail inmate was allowed to use a private vehicle to reach Mohali court for a hearing and brought back to Ropar jail.
It is more than evident that the Congress government in Punjab is providing patronage to the gangster and Twitter rani Priyanka Gandhi should now explain this at least on twitter,” Singh said.
Singh said the registration papers of the ambulance show that vehicle was purchased in 2013 on documents found to be containing incorrect information.
How did government at that time allow it? At that time gangsters like Mukhtar were a part of the government,” he said adding all aspects of the ambulance will be probed thoroughly and the guilty will be punished.
The Punjab prisons department has clarified that the ambulance used to transport Ansari from Ropar jail to Mohali court on Wednesday is owned by him but it is not a bullet-proof ambulance and Punjab prisons rules allow use of private conveyance.
Praveen Kumar Sinha, ADGP (prisons) Punjab, told TOI, “This ambulance was provided by Mukhtar Ansari.
But, it is not a bullet proof ambulance but a regular one.”
“Jails department hands over a prisoner to the police party which takes the prisoner to the court as per the Punjab Prisoners (Attendance in Courts) Rules.
There is a provision in these rules that the police party can allow a separate conveyance if a prisoner wants,” said Sinha.
On the other hand, BJP MLA Alka Rai who is widow of former BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, has shot a letter to Additional Chief secretary (home) demanding a probe into the gangster Mukhtar Ansari being ferried in an ambulance which had a UP registration.