They want to kill me, says Gangster Atiq Ahmad on being taken to UP

Atiq Ahmad, a gangster-turned-politician, has claimed yet another threat to his life as he is being transported from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail to Prayagraj by a team of Uttar Pradesh Police officers.

In a statement Ahmad said while being taken in a UP police van that “It is not right. They want to kill me.”

The don-turned-politician is being transported to Prayagraj for questioning in the Umesh Pal murder case. In this case, the Prayagraj court has issued a B warrant.

On March 28, Ahmad was transferred from Sabarmati jail to Prayagraj under tight security. He was brought before an MP/MLA court, where he and two others were sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping of lawyer Umesh Pal. He and the other convicts were also ordered to pay Pal’s family one lakh rupees in compensation.

On February 24, Umesh Pal, a witness in the 2005 killing of Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal, was shot dead along with two security guards in Prayagraj.

In 2006, Ahmad and his associates allegedly kidnapped Umesh Pal and forced him to testify in court in their favor. In this regard, the lawyer had filed a complaint.

According to police, Ahmad has been named in over 100 criminal cases, including the recent Umesh Pal murder case. He had petitioned the Supreme Court for protection last month, claiming that he and his family members had been falsely implicated in the murder case and that he might be killed in a bogus encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police.