Atiq Ahmed released from Gujarat jail, taken into custody by UP police

Ahmed will be produced before a court in Prayagraj that is scheduled to pass an order on March 28 in a kidnapping case in which he is an accused

A team of the Uttar Pradesh police reached Sabarmati central jail in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and took gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed to Prayagraj after he was released on Sunday evening, superintendent of police (Sabarmati Jail) J S Chavda said.

Ahmed was lodged in Sabarmati jail since June 2019 (PTI Photo)

Ahmed will be produced before a court in Prayagraj that is scheduled to pass an order on March 28 in a kidnapping case in which he is an accused, officials said.

Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader is the main accused in the 2005 murder case of the then Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Raju Pal and was recently booked after Umesh Pal, a key witness in the case, was allegedly shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24.

Ahmed was lodged in Sabarmati jail since June 2019, after the Supreme Court had in April that year directed he be shifted to a high-security jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault of a businessman while in jail.

Earlier this month, Ahmed moved the Supreme Court for protection fearing Uttar Pradesh police may kill him in a fake encounter and claimed that he and his family have been falsely “roped in” as accused in the Umesh Pal murder case and the

In his plea, Ahmed claimed the Uttar Pradesh police were likely to seek his transit remand to take him from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj and he “genuinely apprehends that he may be eliminated during this transit period”.

Ahmed, a former MP and five-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh, is accused in more than 100 cases.