Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: At Chakia in Prayagraj, residents are tense amid growing rumours that the bulldozers will return to raze their homes to the ground. The fear is that their houses, too, will be targeted because of their physical proximity to associates and aides of gangster-turned-politician, former MP Atiq Ahmed.
A ‘demolition squad’ comprising police officers as well as officials from the local administration and Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) had Thursday torn down the house of Safdar Ali, an alleged arms trader and associate of Ahmed.
This was the second demolition in 24 hours — the first, on Wednesday, being that of Zafar Ahmad’s ‘illegally built’ house. It is part of a crackdown on Atiq and his associates who allegedly attempted to extort money from Umesh Pal, who was killed on 24 February in broad daylight. The 52-year-old lawyer was a key witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal.
Atiq Ahmed is a key accused in the murders of both Umesh Pal and Raju Pal.
“We have a list of 10 people who supported Ahmed, not just criminals but also those who financed him. Their assets are under scrutiny as well,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity. One of the key accused in the Pal murder case, Guddu Muslim, who is named in the FIR, is reportedly being investigated closely. He lives in the same area in Chakia.
A senior police officer told ThePrint that the properties being razed were registered under fictitious names and had been on the administration’s radar for a while.
Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma declined to comment on this or divulge any details on the ongoing ‘bulldozer action’ or the investigation into Pal’s murder.
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old man, Arbaaz, wanted for his role in Pal’s killing was gunned down by the UP Police on 28 February.
Atiq Ahmed is currently in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad in a case of abduction and extortion, while Guddu Muslim is absconding. However, neither Safdar Ali nor Zafar Ahmad are named as accused in the Pal murder case as per the FIR.
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‘Bulldozer’ action
Sources in UP police say that Ali, who runs a firearm shop in the district’s Johnstonganj area, is alleged to have supplied guns to the former MP. Later, Ali told the media persons that he had not received any notice from the PDA. However, PDA officials claimed otherwise, saying that a notice had been sent to him with a warning that the construction was illegal and that the structure was slated to be demolished.
The joint team of PDA had Wednesday demolished the house of Zafar Ahmad in Chakia. It had alleged that the house was built illegally without getting plans sanctioned. Zafar Ahmad was a stringer with a news agency, the officer cited above told ThePrint.
Two rifles, one sword and several documents, including posters, banners were recovered from the house. Atiq’s wife, Shaista Parveen, was staying at Zafar Ahmad’s house with her two sons after her ancestral house was bulldozed in September 2020.
A police officer close to the investigation claimed that the murder of Umesh Pal was orchestrated at Zafar Ahmad’s house.
Gunned down in daylight
The FIR in Umesh Pal’s murder has been registered against nine people, including Atiq, his brother Ashraf, his wife Shaista Parveen, his close aide Guddu Muslim, Ghulam, Atiq’s two sons (names unknown), and two more unknown people.
In the FIR, Pal’s wife, Jaya said her husband had returned home from the court when a group of men started firing bullets and hurled bombs at him. She was at home at the time.
“I rushed outside screaming after watching the CCTV camera footage. I saw that these men were throwing bombs and firing. They were also threatening to kill anyone who tried to intervene. This created a huge commotion and with the help of family members, we were able to take my husband and his two security men, gunman Sandeep and Raghvender Singh, to the hospital,” she said in the FIR registered at the Dhoomanganj Police Station.
The FIR is registered under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (armed with deadly weapon), 149 (offence by member of unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (shooting with intention of killing), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (act by many to further common intention), 120-B (party to criminal conspiracy), section 3 (causing explosion likely to endanger life and property) of the Explosives Act, and section 7 (loitering or any similar act at or near the place where a person carries on business, in such a way and with intent that any person may thereby be deterred from entering or approaching or dealing at such place) of Criminal Law Amendment Act. ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
Both Pal and Sandeep were declared dead at the hospital while Singh succumbed to his injuries later. Pal’s autopsy report stated that he was shot seven times and had 13 injuries on his body.
Jaya alleged that her husband was earlier abducted in 2006 by Atiq’s associates in an attempt to pressure him into recanting his statement in the 2005 case. Pal had registered an FIR in this regard and the case was ongoing.
“However, Pal was not succumbing to the pressure and had become an eyesore for Atiq,” a police official said to ThePrint.
MLA Raju Pal’s murder
The Atiq-Pal rivalry dates back to 2002 when the former defeated the latter in assembly elections from Allahabad (West). However, the gangster-turned-politician resigned in 2004 after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Phulpur parliamentary constituency on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket. He wanted a family member to retain the seat and launched his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf.
In November 2004, Pal won the bypoll as a BSP candidate by defeating Azim. In January 2005, while Pal was on his way to the Republic Day parade, he was shot at. After his murder, Azim won the seat, defeating Pal’s wife Puja.
Atiq was an MLA from Allahabad (West) for five consecutive terms between 1989 to 2002.
In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Atiq, who was arrested in connection with the murder of Raju Pal, contested from Pratapgarh on Apna Dal ticket after being expelled by SP, only to lose. In the 2012 UP assembly elections, Atiq, who was out on bail, again contested on an Apna Dal ticket but lost to late Raju Pal’s wife Puja. In 2014, he was taken back into the SP and fought the Lok Sabha elections from the Shrawasti Lok Sabha seat but lost again.
Meanwhile, amid the demolitions, Atiq has sought police protection from the Supreme Court, alleging fear of being killed in a “fake encounter” by the Uttar Pradesh police. The demand for protection seems to have come in the wake of BJP’s Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak’s 1 March tweet recalling the death of gangster Vikas Dubey in 2020.
“Remember, when Vikas Dubey didn’t survive, you can imagine what would happen to these evil people. I would not be surprised if Atiq’s car also overturns,” Pathak tweeted in Hindi.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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