The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government regarding MLA Abbas Ansari's plea for bail. Ansari, accused of threatening various individuals to extort money using his wife's mobile phone while in Chitrakoot district jail, has challenged the May 1 order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, which denied his bail request.

Ansari, an MLA from the Mau assembly constituency, was implicated in an FIR registered in February 2023. The FIR alleged that his wife frequently visited him in prison without adhering to formalities and prescribed restrictions.

The high court noted that Ansari allegedly used his wife's mobile phone to threaten people for extortion and that his wife's driver was allegedly plotting his escape from prison with the help of jail officials.

The plea was heard on Thursday by a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and Ujjal Bhuyan. The Supreme Court has requested a response from the state and has scheduled the hearing for two weeks later.

Abbas Ansari is the son of the late Mukhtar Ansari, a gangster-politician and multiple-term former MLA who died in jail a few months ago.

In its order, the high court observed that as a member of the legislative assembly, Ansari holds a responsible position and his conduct should be of a higher standard. The court remarked, "A person with the aforesaid backdrop knowing fully well that he was lodged in jail & his wife had been repeatedly meeting the applicant (Ansari) & from the CCTV footage as well as statements of the witnesses elicited during investigation it prima facie reflects towards the complicity of the applicant."

The high court further noted that jail authorities do not typically grant such unrestricted access to any person, which was allegedly extended to Ansari's wife at his behest. While rejecting his bail plea, the high court had directed that the trial be concluded as expeditiously as possible