I know their programme, they want to kill me: Atiq Ahmed says before being taken to UP from Sabarmati jail

Soon after stepping out of the Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad before being taken to Prayagraj by the Uttar Pradesh police, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed on Sunday expressed fear that he might be murdered.

"Hatya, hatya (murder, murder)," Ahmed told reporters outside the jail.

When some reporters asked him while he was being taken to a police van whether he was feeling afraid, the former Samajwadi Party MP said, "Mujhe inka programme maloom hai...Hatya karna chahte hain (I know their programme...They want to murder me)."

A team of the Uttar Pradesh police reached the Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad city in the morning and left the premises with Ahmed amid tight security around 6 pm after completing the necessary formalities. He will be produced before a court in Praygraj city of UP on March 28 when it passes an order in a kidnapping case in which he is an accused, officials said.

Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party MP, has been lodged in the Sabarmati central jail since June 2019. He was shifted there from his home state as per the Supreme Court's order.

The Supreme Court had in April 2019 directed that the former MP from Phulpur in UP be shifted to a high-security jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault of a real estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal while in jail. He is named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the recent Umesh Pal murder case, police said.