‘They want to kill me’: Gangster Atiq Ahmad on being taken to UP again

Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad has once again claimed threat to his life as he is being taken from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail to Prayagraj by a team of Uttar Pradesh Police personnel.

“It is not right. They want to kill me,” said Ahmad while being taken in a UP Police van. The don-turned-politician is being taken to Prayagraj in connection with questioning in the Umesh Pal murder case. The Prayagraj court has issued a B warrant in the matter.

Earlier, Ahmad was brought to Prayagraj from Sabarmati jail on March 28 amid tight security. He was produced before an MP/MLA court which sentenced him and two others to rigorous life imprisonment in the kidnapping of lawyer Umesh Pal. He and the other convicts were also told to pay ₹1 lakh compensation to Pal’s family.

Umesh Pal, the witness in the 2005 killing of Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal, was shot dead along with his two security guards in Prayagraj on February 24.

In 2006, Ahmad and his aides allegedly abducted Umesh Pal and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. The lawyer had registered a complaint in this regard.

Ahmad has been named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the recent Umesh Pal murder case, police said. Last month, he had moved the top court for protection, claiming he and his family members have been falsely implicated in the murder case and he might be killed in a fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police.