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U.P. Police collect dossiers of Atiq gang, plan major crackdown on aides
This plan for a major action against Atiq’s gang members and aides comes after police failed to trace all shooters involved in the murder of Umesh Pal, lawyer and prime witness in BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. Umesh and his two police gunners were shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24.
Lucknow The UP Police had prepared dossiers of all active gang members and sympathisers of incarcerated Mafioso-cum-politician Atiq Ahmad and dug up their crime records for a major crackdown on them, said a senior police official on Saturday. He said the dossiers with the cops included the crime history of Atiq Ahmad and each detail related to his gang, its fire power and his political links.
This plan for a major action against Atiq’s gang members and aides comes after police failed to trace all shooters involved in the murder of Umesh Pal, lawyer and prime witness in BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. Umesh and his two police gunners were shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24.
The police official said details showed that nearly 190 criminal cases were registered against Atiq Ahmad since 1979, when he murdered a local resident over personal enmity. He said investigation in as many as 115 cases was still pending while in the remaining, the police had either filed closure report or final report or the court acquitted him due to lack of evidence and the case was revoked by the state government.
He said there were as many as 34 active members in the gang who committed different types of crimes related to property grabbing, government tenders pooling, extortion etc. He said there were 13 other gang members and sympathisers who were his family members and relatives, including his wife Shaista Praveen and brother Ashraf. “After recent findings, the names of his son and a few other relatives like Ashraf’s brother-in-law Saddam are likely to be added to the list,” he said.
Earlier, around half a dozen shooters allegedly associated with Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf shot multiple rounds at Umesh Pal and his two police gunners -- Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh in a day light incident. The incident had triggered panic in Prayagraj and other parts of the state as Umesh Pal was attacked in full public view. Other than being prime witness in BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, Umesh Pal had also lodged five other cases against Atiq Ahmad, Ashraf and his henchmen allegedly for abducting and threatening to not give a statement in the case.
BSP MLA Raju Pal was shot dead in broad daylight in Prayagraj on January 25, 2005 and Atiq is one of the accused in this sensational murder case. A CBI inquiry was ordered by the Supreme Court in 2016 in this case. Raju Pal was murdered barely three months after he won the (then) Allahabad (West) assembly seat in his electoral debut by defeating Atiq’s younger brother Ashraf.
