Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad was to marry cousin. Now she is also on the run
Asad’s cousin, daughter of Atiq Ahmad’s sister Ayesha Noori, is also on the run along with her mother after the police added their names to the list of accused on April 9
PRAYAGRAJ: Asad Ahmad, the 19-year-old son of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad who was killed in an encounter with the police in Jhansi, was to be engaged to a cousin but the plan was upended after Asad allegedly led a group of hitmen to kill lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police guards on February 24, Asad’s relatives said.
The cousin, daughter of Atiq Ahmad’s sister Ayesha Noori, is also on the run along with her mother after the police added their names to the list of accused on April 9 on charges of providing shelter and financial help to the men involved in Umesh Pal’s murder.
A family member of Atiq said the family had decided to Asad’s marriage with Ayesha’s elder daughter as they liked each other. Their engagement was proposed to be held soon. Atiq’s wife Shaista Parveen was particularly keen that Asad’s marriage should be solemnised soon; Asad’s elder brothers, Ali and Umar, are in jail in different cases.
Ayesha is one of the four sisters of Atiq Ahmad and is said to be closest to him. Her husband Dr Ekhlaq Ahmad, a government doctor, was arrested from Meerut on April 2.
Also Read: How UP Police planned ‘Operation Jhansi’ to corner Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad
She and her family rushed to Prayagraj to be with Atiq’s family on February 25 after Umesh Pal’s wife accused Asad of killing her the lawyer.
Ayesha Noori also fronted the family’s media campaign in defence of Atiq Ahmad. She, along with other women, convened a Press conference in March to claim that Atiq Ahmad’s family was being framed in the murder, that Atiq’s wife Shaista Parveen was implicated in the case to stop her from contesting for the post of mayor in the municipal election and that Atiq Ahmad could be killed in an encounter by STF.
Asad cleared his class 12 examination last year and planned to enrol for a law course after an attempt to study abroad had to be aborted because his request for a passport was rejected twice, his relatives said.
Asad, unlike his father or brothers, did not have any criminal cases against him before February 24 when he, according to footage from CCTV cameras, allegedly led a group of assassins to kill Umesh Pal, the lawyer who had been troubling his father. In the video, Asad was allegedly seen coming out of a white SUV and firing indiscriminately at Umesh Pal and his police guards, said police.
Umesh Pal was the prime witness in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal in Prayagraj on January 25, 2005, a case in which Atiq Ahmad and Khalid Azeem were the prime accused.
