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Secret meetings in Bareilly jail’: Chargesheet filed against 9 aides of slain mafia brothers Atiq & Ashraf
Prison guard Shiv Hari Awasthi facilitated Ashraf’s meeting with his aides without mentioning their visits in jail records, said police officials.
LUCKNOW In a bid to tighten noose on gang members of slain mafioso brothers Atiq Ahmed and Khalid Azim (alias Ashraf), the Bareilly police on Monday filed chargesheet against nine people -- including two jail guards and Ashraf’s close aide Mohd Raza (alias Lalla Gaddi) -- in connection with the case related to his (Ashraf’s) secret meetings in Bareilly jail.
Earlier, on March 8, the Bareilly police unit had exposed the nexus of criminals and jail personnel in Bareilly district jail where Atiq Ahmed’s younger brother Ashraf was lodged since July 2020. The police had arrested jail canteen supplier Daya Ram (alias Nanhe), Bareilly district jail guard Shiv Hari Awasthi, and Pilibhit jail guard Manoj Gaur for facilitating Ashraf’s secret meetings inside the jail. Later, seven more people, including Lalla Gaddi, were arrested in the matter.
“During further investigation, it was revealed that four of the six assailants -- Guddu Muslim, Atiq’s son Asad, Sabir and Ghulam -- involved in the killing of advocate Umesh Pal and his two police guards outside his house in Prayagraj on February 24 had visited the Bareilly jail to meet Ashraf two week before Umesh Pal’s murder. This revelation had confirmed the involvement Ashraf behind Umesh Pal’s killing,” said a police inspector privy to the development.
On Monday, Bareilly SSP Prabhakar Chowdhary confirmed to media persons that the chargesheet has been filed against nine people -- including two jail guards, canteen supplier Daya Ram alias Nanhe, Lalla Gaddi, Rashid Ali, Furqan Nabi Khan, Mohd Sarfudeen, Farhat (alias Guddu), and Arif. He said the police investigators have applied section 173 (6) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) while filing the charge sheet so people arrested in the matter could not be easily bailed out. Under this section, the chargesheet and documents attached with it is not easily procured by the lawyers of the accused and they have to provide genuine reasons before the court to procure its copy, added the SSP.
Another police official said that prison guard Shiv Hari Awasthi facilitated Ashraf’s meeting with his aides without mentioning their visits in jail records. He said Awasthi used to put one ID for entry of six-seven persons at a time at least thrice in a week. He said a SIT headed by a CO rank officer investigated the matter thoroughly and filed the charge sheet.
He said Ashraf’s name was included in the chargesheet as he, along with his elder brother Atiq Ahmed, was shot dead by three assailants while being taken to hospital for medical examination in police custody in Prayagraj on April 15 when the duo was in police custody remand in connection with the investigation of Umesh Pal’s murder.
Umesh Pal was the prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. Other than being prime witness in BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, Pal had also lodged five more cases against Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf and his henchmen allegedly for abducting and threatened not to give a statement in the case. The 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 Ashraf.