Mafia-turned-politician former MP Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf were produced before a local court here on Tuesday in connection with the abduction of witness Umesh Pal in the 2005 murder case of then Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal. Will go
Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal said that she will not go to the court and will wait for the verdict at her home. Security has been tightened outside the court and jail premises ahead of the appearance of Ahmed and Ashraf. Both the brothers were brought to Prayagraj on Monday from two different jails.
Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal told reporters, “I am not going to the court. I will stay in my house and pray for the death penalty for Ahmed.
Ahmed and Ashraf are also accused of involvement in the conspiracy in the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder of Raju Pal, last month. Umesh Pal and two policemen posted under his security were shot dead on February 24 in Prayagraj.
A case was registered against Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam and nine others at Prayagraj’s Dhumanganj police station on a complaint by Pal’s wife Jaya. After the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal on January 25, 2005, the then district panchayat member Umesh Pal told the police that he was an eyewitness to the murder.
Umesh had alleged that he was abducted on February 28, 2006, when he refused to back down and bow down to Atiq Ahmed’s pressure.
An FIR was registered in this case on July 5, 2007, against Ateeq, his brother Ashraf and four unknown persons. The charge sheet presented in the court in the case mentions 11 accused. Atiq Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Phulpur, was shifted to Gujarat’s Sabarmati Central Jail in June 2019.
Ateeq was sent to Sabarmati Jail after he was accused of kidnapping and assaulting real estate baron Mohit Jaiswal while he was in jail in Uttar Pradesh. Atiq Ahmed is named in over 100 criminal cases including the Umesh Pal murder case.
Officials said that Ashraf, lodged in Bareilly District Jail since July 2020, was brought to Naini Central Jail on Monday evening amid tight security arrangements. A police team along with him left for Prayagraj from Bareilly on Monday morning.
