Fearing UP police action, Atiq Ahmed moves SC seeking protection of life former MP sees threat to his life

Abishek Awasthi.

PRAYAGRAJ: On Wednesday, bulldozers were deployed in Prayagraj to raze the illegal property of Khalid Zafar, an aide of jailed former Samajwadi Party leader Atiq Ahmed. In connection with the Umesh Pal murder case, police detained Ruby alias Zainab, the wife of ex-MLA Khalid Azeem Ashraf. Ashraf is the brother of gangster-turned-politician Atiq, who filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Wednesday demanding protection and alleged that he has been “roped in” as an accused in the case and fears a threat to his life.

Ahmed, who is now being held in the Ahmedabad Central Prison, has also requested that no physical or bodily damage or injury be done to him in any way during police custody or questioning.He has also requested that the state of Uttar Pradesh and others refrain from transporting him from the Central Prison in Ahmedabad to Prayagraj or any other part of the state. Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder of BSP Lawmaker Raju Pal, was killed down in broad daylight outside his Prayagraj home on February 24. Atiq is the main suspect in the 2005 murder of BSP Lawmaker Raju Pal and is suspected of devising a murder plot from within Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail, where he is now incarcerated. Atiq’s brother, incarcerated former Legislator Ashraf Ahmed, also implicated in murder case, has petitioned court against being taken out of Bareilly prison grounds for court hearing or for jail transfer for fear of being assassinated. As a type of warning to ‘mafias,’ UP Minister JPS Rathore stated that the state police have initiated a crackdown on mafias, adding that they will be apprehended even from the underground. “When they are captured, they must not get worked up in the car. What if the car flips over because the driver loses balance?” Rathore wondered. The unlawful property of Atiq Ahmed’s aide Khalid Zafar was razed on Wednesday. This property, which is presently under investigation, was previously issued a notice for being unlawful and without Prayagraj.