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Atiq Ahmed to be shifted to Prayagraj for 2007 abduction case verdict, UP cops reach Gujarat jail

Abduction case is based on a complaint by Umesh Pal, a key witness in BSP MLA Raju Pal’s killing who was himself murdered in February this year. Ahmed is an accused in both cases.

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Prayagraj:  Over three-and-a-half years since he was shifted to the high-security Sabarmati jail in Gujarat, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed is set to be moved to an Uttar Pradesh jail ahead of the verdict in a 2007 abduction case based on a complaint by the late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Umesh Pal.

A team of UP Police reached the Sabarmati Central Jail Sunday to shift Ahmed to the Prayagraj jail. At the time this report was filed, Ahmed was yet to exit the jail premises even as the UP Police vans stayed put outside the jail.
Umesh Pal, the complainant in the 2007 case, and also a witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Raju Pal who later turned hostile, was murdered on 24 February this year. Ahmed is an accused in both cases.

Speaking to mediapersons Sunday, UP DG (prisons) Anand Kumar said Ahmed is being shifted to UP’s Naini jail (Prayagraj) where will be kept in isolation in a high-security barracks. His cell will have CCTV cameras.

“Jail staff (for Ahmed) will be chosen and deployed on the basis of their records. They will have body-worn cameras. Prayagraj jail office and jail headquarters will monitor him round the clock through a video wall. DIG, Jail HQ, is being sent to ensure all the arrangements at Prayagraj jail,” his statement read.

Confirming the development, UP ADG (law and order) Prashant Kumar said to ThePrint that a sentence is set to be delivered in an old case lodged against Ahmed, and his presence is required by the court.

State DGP D.S. Chauhan, talking to a news channel, also said that the Prayagraj court which is hearing the case has sought Ahmed’s presence when the verdict is pronounced. “It’s an old case dating to 2007 in which he is being brought to UP,” he said.

At least two UP police vans were spotted outside the Sabarmati jail early Sunday, according to verified videos in ThePrint’s possession.


Also read: Blood traces at home, CCTV images — what Delhi Police have found so far in Shraddha murder case


Ahmed’s criminal record

According to the records of Khuldabad police station, Prayagraj, Ahmed’s gang is identified as ‘Inter-state Gang 227’, while he himself is ‘History-sheeter 39 A’. He has a total of 100 cases lodged against him between 1979 and 2023 in Prayagraj district alone, according to UP Police records ThePrint has accessed.

Dhoomanganj station house officer Rakesh Maurya confirmed to ThePrint that Ahmed has a total of around 130 cases lodged against him in different states.

However, despite cases of murder, attempted murder, extortion, assault, criminal intimidation, three cases under the National Security Act, multiple cases under the Gangsters Act and Goonda Act, Ahmed has not faced a single conviction in 44 years.

The former Phulpur MP was shifted to the Sabarmati Central Jail in June 2019 following a Supreme Court order over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and assault of a businessman, Mohit Jaiswal, while he was in Deoria jail.

What’s the 2007 case

Ahmed is being brought to UP in connection with an abduction case lodged by the now-deceased Umesh Pal in 2007.

Pal, a witness in the Raju Pal murder case, had alleged that he was abducted and harassed by Ahmed’s men.

According to Pal’s friend Rajpal, he was let off after the then Handia MLA, Mahesh Narayan Singh, intervened, but he lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Ahmed and his men in 2007.

In the Raju Pal case, his wife and SP MLA Pooja Pal pointed out that Umesh Pal had testified in Ahmed’s favour.

Speaking to ThePrint, Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya said her husband was pressured to testify in Ahmed’s favour in the Raju Pal case.

“Allurements would be given to him and also threats to his life. He was asked not to appear against Ahmed but my husband wouldn’t share it with me,” she said.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)


Also read: ‘Radicalised in Tihar’ — story of murder convict Naushad, accused in Delhi beheading


 

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