Amid heavy security deployment, Criminal-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, an accused in the murder of Umesh Pal, reached Naini central jail in Prayagraj on Wednesday from the Sabarmati central jail in Gujarat.
The carcade which left Gujarat on Tuesday reached Uttar Pradesh via Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. He will be produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Dinesh Gautam on Thursday in the murder case. The former MP’s brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf will be produced in the court in the same case.
Earlier Mr. Ahmed asked presspersons not to trouble his family members. “I am totally reduced to dust, but please don’t trouble the women and children of my family now,” he said. He also alleged that he was being harassed in the Gujarat jail and added that he was safe because of the media.
The former Lok Sabha member from Phulpur was shifted to the Sabarmati central jail in the wake of a Supreme Court order in 2019 after being accused of kidnapping a businessman Mohit Jaiswal while in prison in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Ahmed who faces more than eight dozen case including the recent Umesh Pal murder case has been taken to Uttar Pradesh amid rising pressure to solve the case related to Umesh Pal killing, a prime witness in 2005 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal murder. The five main assailants in the case are absconding and the State police has announced a cash reward for information on the assailants.
Also Read |I am being harassed in Sabarmati Jail: gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed
ED searches
In a related development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at more than a dozen locations in the State as part of its ongoing money laundering case against the former MP. Multiple teams of the ED, searched premises of close aides of Mr. Ahmed, including his lawyer Soulat Hanif.
The case has also led to attachment of his movable and immovable assets.
