Mukhtar Ansari's wife writes to President seeking security for him during transfer from Punjab jail to UP

The wife of jailed mafia don-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari has written to President Ram Nath Kovind urging him to ensure adequate security for him when he is transferred from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh following a Supreme Court direction.

In her letter released to the media on Wednesday, Afshan Ansari claimed that her husband, who is a BSP MLA from Mau, is an eyewitness in a case and the accused BJP MLC is threatening to kill him in connivance with the government machinery.

Afshan Ansari said she fears that her husband might be killed "in the guise of a fake encounter" during his transfer from Ropar jail in Punjab to Uttar Pradesh's Banda prison.

According to the Supreme Court's March 26 order, her husband has to be transferred to Uttar Pradesh's Banda jail in two weeks. Ansari's wife said she is frightened because of the past actions of some officers of the Uttar Pradesh government and is deeply concerned about the safety of his life.

"If my husband is sent to Uttar Pradesh without fixing responsibility for the safety of his life, then surely he would be killed by creating a false story. Therefore, it is a plea to the President to order that my husband is protected," Afshan Ansari said in the letter.

She also urged that if it is required to produce Ansari in court, the President should order the government to arrange central security force personnel "to accompany him from prison to court and back".

Mukhtar Ansari has been in judicial custody since October 25, 2005 in a number of criminal cases.

Alka Rai, the legislator wife of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai who was killed allegedly at the hands of the Mukhtar Ansari gang in 2005, had demanded that Ansari be transferred to a jail in Uttar Pradesh.