Atiq to be interrogated in Umesh Pal murder

Escorted by a 37-member team of Prayagraj police, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed will reach Prayagraj on Wednesday afternoon for interrogation in the Umesh Pal murder case.

The four-vehicle cavalcade carrying the jailed gangster-turned-politician in a prison van left Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

After the police bring Atiq under relevant warrant to Prayagraj and lodge him at Naini central jail, they are likely to apply for his custody remand from a local court.

This is the second time Atiq is being brought to Prayagraj from Sabarmati jail within a fortnight.

Earlier, a 22-member team of Prayagraj police had brought him to the city on March 27 to produce him before the MP/MLA court.

On March 28, the court had sentenced Atiq Ahmed to life imprisonment in connection with the Umesh Pal kidnapping case in 2006.

The Supreme Court had in April 2019 directed that Atiq Ahmed should be shifted to the high-security Sabarmati jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating from jail the kidnap and attack on a real estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal.

Atiq Ahmed is facing 103 criminal cases, including the Umesh Pal murder.

In the latest FIR, Atiq Ahmed, his son Ali Ahmed and Atiq's cousin Aslam Mantri, along with 10 others, have been booked for extortion, demanding Rs 1 crore, and assaulting and threatening a man, police said.

This is the 103rd criminal case lodged against the gangster-turned-politician.

The complainant Sabir Hussain claimed that though the incident took place on April 14, 2019, he has now lodged a case with the Dhoomanganj police now.

Hussain said he could only muster the courage to file the complaint following the recent crackdown against the gangster and his gang.

"The incident occurred when I was at my mother's house at Chakia, Kasari-Masarai locality where Ali Ahmed (son of Atiq) along with other armed men arrived and called me. When I came out of the house, Aslam Mantri called up Atiq on the phone and asked me to talk to him. When I refused, Ali and Asad pointed a pistol at my head and asked me to arrange Rs 1-crore extortion," Hussain said in his complaint.