‘Guddu Muslim, Atiq’s wife Shaista will be arrested soon’: UP Police

The police have not been able to nab Guddu Muslim, whose name surfaced in wake of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s killing, but the efforts are underway, Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) DIG Anant Dev Tiwari said.

Tiwari told news agency ANI, “We have not been able to arrest Guddu Muslim and Shaista Parveen so far. Efforts are underway. All teams are at it, we will arrest them soon.”

Earlier on Tuesday, STF IG Amitabh Yash had said that Guddu was the most dreaded criminal and had also been a professional shooter.

Yash had also said that Guddu had been arrested in 1999 in a drug smuggling case. “But he got bail with the help of Atiq’s lawyers. He is a bomb maker. When Umesh Pal was murdered, I identified him (Guddu Muslim) easily on CCTV.”

Atiq and Ashraf were taken to a hospital in Prayagraj for checkup last Saturday where they were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists. Ashraf’s last words were before being shot were, “Main baat yeh hai ki Guddu Muslim… (the main point is that Guddu Muslim)”.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said that mafias cannot threaten anyone in the state anymore. “Those who were a threat to UP earlier…now UP is a threat to them.”

Speaking at a function he said, “Before 2017, the law and order in the state was not good, but after that, there is a rule of law in the state. From 2017 to 2023, there have been no riots in Uttar Pradesh; there was no need for a curfew.”

Out of four members of Atiq Ahmad’s family who had been accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, three have been killed. Atiq’s son Asad was killed in an encounter by the UP Police day before Atiq was killed.