Register, iPhone recovered from Atiq’s demolished ancestral home
SHO of Dhumanganj police station inspector Rajesh Kumar Maurya said on confession of one Rakesh aka Lala, police raided Atiq’s ancestral home in Chakia area which was demolished in 2020 by the Prayagraj Development Authority team. In one of the small rooms inside the premises, police recovered a register, an iPhone and two Aadhaar cards, SHO added.
Dhumanganj police recovered a register, two Aadhar cards and an iPhone from the remains of gangster-politician and former MP Atiq Ahmed’s demolished ancestral house on Tuesday following questioning from five accused who were arrested on March 21. Police had taken six hours of remand of the accused on Monday for grilling.
On March 21, police had arrested Niaz Ahmad of Dhoomanganj, Qais Ahmad, Mohd Sajar of Jayantipur area of Dhoomanganj, Rakesh Kumar of Pashim Sharira area of Kaushambi district and Arshad Khan aka Arshad Katra of Colonelganj area.
Preliminary questioning from them revealed that they were involved in the conspiracy to murder lawyer Umesh Pal and helped the assailants keep an eye on his movements. Cash worth ₹2.25 lakh and six mobiles were recovered from them.
On confession of Qais Ahmad and Rakesh Kumar, police had raided Atiq’s office at Karbala and recovered two bags containing cash and firearms hidden under a sofa a few days back. A cash counting machine was also recovered from the spot. The total cash recovered from the office and the accused was ₹74.62 lakh. Five semi-automatic pistols and five country-made single shot pistols were recovered from one of the bags along with 112 live cartridges of different calibres.
Meanwhile, on Monday, police received remand of the five accused from the court. Their custody was taken from Naini Central Jail and they were taken to Dhumanganj police station for questioning.
SHO of Dhumanganj police station inspector Rajesh Kumar Maurya said on confession of Rakesh aka Lala, police raided Atiq’s ancestral home in Chakia area which was demolished in 2020 by the Prayagraj Development Authority team. In one of the small rooms inside the premises, police recovered a register, an iPhone and two Aadhaar cards, SHO added.
However, police officials said further details of the recovered items could be learnt only after proper investigations. The seized register and phone may provide clues about assailants on the run and concrete evidence against them, officials added.
Earlier, questioning from the arrested accused revealed that Niaz Ahmad spoke to Atiq Ahmed multiple times through internet calling from mobile of Asad, Atiq’s son. At Atiq’s behest, Niaz kept tabs on Umesh Pal’s movements and timing of his arrival at and departure from the district court. Niaz was among those who took part in meetings held at Atiq’s home.
Another Mohd Sajar lived near Umesh Pal’s house in Jayantipur locality and used to give information to Asad about Umesh’s activities through an iPhone provided to him by Asad, he said.
Qais Ahmad was the driver of Atiq’s family for 16 years while Rakesh Kumar had been working as accountant with the family for the past 19 years. The duo had hidden the cash and firearms at Atiq’s office.