Court defers hearing surrender plea of Atiq’s sister Ayesha, accused in Umesh Pal murder

The hearing was deferred by the chief judicial magistrate's court in Prayagraj Monday, after the city's Dhoomanganj police failed to file a report in response to Ayesha Noori's plea.

Ayesha Noori | Photo: ANI

Prayagraj: The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Prayagraj Monday deferred hearing on the surrender application of Ayesha Noori, sister of deceased gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, after the city’s Dhoomanganj police failed to file a report in response to her plea.

Noori is an accused in the 24 February murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Umesh Pal, who had been a witness in the 2005 killing of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal, but had turned hostile later. Noori had filed a surrender application before the CJM’s court on 11 April.

She is wife of Meerut-based Akhlaq Ahmed, who was arrested by Prayagraj police earlier this month, for allegedly providing shelter and monetary aide to those accused of shooting Umesh Pal.

While Ahmed’s ‘gang’ is accused of being behind Raju Pal’s murder, the former gangster-turned-politician and other members of his family and alleged gang, including his brother Ashraf, son Asad and wife Shaista Parveen, are accused in the Umesh Pal murder case.

Ahmed and Ashraf were killed while in police custody in Prayagraj earlier this month, allegedly by three men posing as journalists. Their deaths came two days after Asad and his alleged aide, Ghulam, were killed in an encounter.

Speaking to ThePrint, Noori’s lawyer Vijay Mishra said her surrender plea will next be heard on 26 April.

“The court had asked the Dhoomanganj police to submit their report on the surrender application but they failed to do so today [Monday]. Hence, the next date of hearing has been scheduled for 26 April,” he said.

The police, meanwhile, confirmed that no surrender application has been filed on behalf of Shaista Parveen, Ahmed’s wife. Speaking to ThePrint, Prayagraj police commissioner Ramit Sharma said that no such application had been filed on her behalf in court.

Meanwhile, a day after purported CCTV footage from Bareilly prison, allegedly of the men accused of shooting Umesh Pal, went viral on WhatsApp groups and social media Sunday, sources in Prayagraj police claimed to have found “fresh bloodstains” in Ahmed’s office in the city’s Chakia area Monday. Interestingly, the office had been demolished by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) more than two years back for allegedly being partly constructed on government land.

 

‘Bloodstain, knife found’ in demolished office 

Following media claims of finding blood stains in the deceased gangster-turned-politician’s old office, sources in Prayagraj police said Monday that “bloodstains were found on the floor” and a “blood-soaked cloth and knife” were also recovered from the site.

A forensic team has taken samples from the spot, the sources added.

Manish Yadav, public relations officer for the superintendent of police (city), Prayagraj, told ThePrint that the “bloodstains were fresh” and that the samples collected had been sent to the forensic laboratory in Phaphamau.

Police have also identified the men in Sunday’s viral footage, purportedly of some of the accused in Umesh Pal’s murder case, as Ahmed’s son Asad, “bomb specialist” Guddu Muslim, Ghulam and Vijay Chaudhary (alias Usman).

The footage, which ThePrint has seen, purportedly shows the men entering Bareilly jail on 11 February to meet Ashraf, who had reportedly been lodged there since September 2020. While Ghulam can be seen leading the others, Guddu, Vijay and Asad appear to follow.

Asad, Ghulam and Usman have since been killed in police encounters and Guddu is reportedly absconding.

Speaking to ThePrint, a Prayagraj police officer claimed that the footage was indeed from Bareilly jail, and that the accused had been captured on camera when they had entered the prison to meet Ashraf, days before Umesh Pal was killed.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)