Jailed MLA Abbas Ansari's wife was arrestef following an unauthorised prison visit. (File)
Jailed MLA Abbas Ansari's wife was arrested for allegedly illegally meeting him in a prison official's room in Ragauli Jail here, police said on Saturday.
The jail superintendent and seven other staff members were suspended for laxity and departmental action was initiated against them, officials said.
Chitrakoot's Superintendent of Police (SP) Vrinda Shukla said that a raid was carried out on Friday and Nikhat Ansari was found illegally meeting her husband Abbas Ansari in the room of the deputy jailer.
Abbas Ansari, the MLA from Mau and son of jailed mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, has been in prison in a money laundering case for the last three months.
Apart from a mobile phone, many "objectionable" items were recovered from Nikhat Ansari, the SP said.
On the basis of the complaint of Sub-Inspector in-charge of Ragauli Jail Police Station Shyamdev Singh, an FIR has been registered against five people, including Jail Superintendent Ashok Sagar, the deputy jailor, a constable, Abbas's wife Nikhat and their driver.
They have been booked under various IPC sections, including 222 (intentional omission to apprehend on the part of public servant bound to apprehend person under sentence or lawfully committed), 186 (Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions... ), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 which deals with tampering with evidence, and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
The police also recovered some Saudi Arabian currency from Ansari's wife.
The SP said that Nikhat Ansari was taken into custody, and after investigation, the accused prisoner officials are also likely to be arrested.
"The jail superintendent, jailor, deputy jailor and five jail warders have been suspended for laxity in discharging duties. Departmental action has also been initiated against them," said Anand Kumar, the director general of Department of Prisons Administration and Reform.
The ED had arrested Abbas Ansari, 30, in November last year after a long questioning session at the agency's office in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh in connection with the money laundering case, officials had said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)