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Ex-MP Atiq Ahmed fails to get protection from SC; asked to approach high court
Allowing him to withdraw and file a petition before the Allahabad high court, the top court said this was not a matter to be heard by the top court when he is under arrest
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a petition by gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed alleging threat to his life from the Uttar Pradesh police.
Allowing him to withdraw and file a petition before the Allahabad high court, the top court said this was not a matter to be heard by the top court when he is under arrest in connection with a first information report (FIR) related to kidnapping and murder of an important witness in a pending trial of a former MLA Raju Pal’s killing in 2005.
The order passed by a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi said, “After arguing the matter for some time, counsel for the petitioner seeks leave to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to file an appropriate application before the high court. The writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with liberty prayed for.”
Also Read:UP police take custody of Atiq from Guj, head to Prayagraj jail
The bench said, “This is not a matter to be heard by us. Go and file your application in the high court,” after learning that his prayer in the petition became infructuous.
In his petition, the former member of Parliament (MP) requested not to be shifted from Sabarmati jail in Gujarat to Prayagraj in connection with a fresh case registered against him last month.
Advocate Vishwaditya Sharma who appeared for Ahmed said his prayer for seeking protection was still alive as there is a direct threat to his life.
“I am not saying there should be no investigation against me, but my safety is at stake. Let my statement be recorded that my life is under threat before sending me to the high court,” Sharma said.
The bench replied, “There is a FIR against you. The state machinery will take care of you. You are in their custody. We will simply allow you to withdraw.”
Incidentally, on Tuesday, a Prayagraj court convicted Ahmed and two others in connection with the 2007 kidnapping case of Umesh Pal, a lawyer and a prime witness in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal in 2005.
The court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Umesh’s wife had complained to the police that Ahmed and others had kidnapped her husband to threaten him to influence the outcome of the murder trial.
Umesh was murdered on February 24 along with his two police guards.
A team of 45 personnel of the UP police had brought the former MP from Gujarat to Prayagraj on Monday.
