Convicted gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was brought to Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj from Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail for quizzing in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case, was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Thursday.
Prayagraj Police sought a 14-day custody remand of Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf for questioning. The hearing of the case is underway.
On Wednesday, while Ahmed was being taken from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj by a team of Uttar Pradesh Police, the former MP from the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency and a five-time MLA in UP, denied his involvement in the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal on February 24 this year.
“My family has been ruined…I was in jail what will I know about it (Umesh Pal murder case),” Ahmed told reporters in Rajasthan’s Bundi, where the police convoy halted, reported news agency ANI.
The Prayagraj court has issued a B warrant in the case.
An MP-MLA court on March 28 found Ahmed and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Ahmed’s brother Ashraf and six others have been acquitted in the case.
This is Ahmed’s first conviction in over 101 criminal cases registered against the former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP over the last 43 years.
Umesh Pal was a key witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker Raju Pal in Prayagraj.
Ahmed is a prime accused in the murder case of Raju Pal, and has been chargesheeted.
Umesh Pal, a zila panchayat member then, told police that he was a witness to the murder.
Umesh Pal alleged that he was kidnapped at gunpoint on February 28, 2006 when he refused to retract and buckle under pressure from Ahmed.
He was allegedly abducted in a Land Cruiser near Phansi Imli in the Dhumanganj police station area by Ahmed. He was beaten and electrocuted while he was kept in his Chakia office.
On March 1, 2006, Ahmed had forced Umesh Pal to give a written statement in his favor, that he was not present at the crime scene and did not want to testify.
After the BSP’s stunning victory in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Umesh Pal filed a case of kidnapping at the Dhumanganj police station on July 5 2007.
The accused was charged by the court in 2009, and the trial of the case began.
An attempt to dissuade Umesh Pal was again made in 2016. This time he was thrown from the fourth floor of the courthouse. An FIR was lodged in this matter at the Colonelganj police station.
In a High Court application, Umesh Pal pleaded for an early settlement of the case . The Allahabad High Court ordered that the hearing of the case be completed by March 16, 2023, in two months.
Umesh Pal was murdered on February 24 after returning from defending this case.
Meanwhile, the Prayagraj police are preparing a detailed report of alleged misconduct and “criminal liaison” on the part of a senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer who had appeared as a defence witness during the trial of the Umesh Pal kidnapping case. Notably, Amit Kumar, who is a deputy superintendent of police-rank officer, is also the investigating officer in the 2005 murder of Raju Pal.