Non-Stop Journey, Refueling Halts, 2 Routes: How UP Police Plans to Bring Atiq Ahmad from Gujarat | Exclusive

Uttar Pradesh Police will bring gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad from Gujarat to Prayagraj in a non-stop journey.

The police convoy entered Kherwara town in Rajasthan’s Udaipur at around 8 pm and took the first refuelling stop in the district later.

Atiq, who was lodged in Sabarmati jail since 2019, is being brought back to Prayagraj in connection with an old kidnapping case of Umesh Pal in which he is the main accused.

According to sources, there will be no night stop during the 1,200 km road journey and the convoy will halt only for refuelling. There are additional drivers in the convoy for the tedious journey.

The police are exploring two routes– the first is from Gujarat to Rajasthan and then enter Uttar Pradesh via Agra and the second is from Gujarat to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and then to Uttar Pradesh via Jhansi. The convoy is expected to reach Prayagraj by Monday evening.

The prison cell in Prayagraj where he will be kept has been identified. It is equipped with CCTV cameras and the footage can be directly monitored at the jail headquarter in Lucknow, sources added. Director General (Jail) Anand Kumar is personally monitoring the arrangements.

Atiq will be produced in court in Prayagraj at 11 am on March 28.

Meanwhile, Atiq said, “Mujhe inka program maloom hai, hatya” (I know their plan is to kill me).

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Minister JPS Rathore said if Atiq plans to run away from the car then there might be “disbalance and the car might overturn”.

“As far as ‘car getting overturned’ is concerned I just said that a criminal after being arrested by police should seat calmly in the car so that he reaches jail safely. If he thinks to run away from the car then there might be disbalance and the car might overturn,” ANI quoted Rathore as saying.

Reacting to Rathore’s comment, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “The CM (Yogi Adityanath) must have told him (UP Minister JPS Rathore) earlier where and how the car would be overturned. If you take help from Google & America, they will show how and when the car was overturned.”

Akhilesh Yadav was apparently referring to an encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey by police when he was being brought from Ujjain to Kanpur.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said, “We are following the orders of the Court, whatever the Court says will be done. These kinds of talks don’t matter.”

Dubey was killed in an encounter on July 10, 2020, when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said. He was booked after eight policemen were killed following an ambush in Bikru village in Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey on July 3, 2020.

WHO IS ATIQ AHMAD?

Former SP MP Atiq Ahmad has over 100 criminal cases lodged against him including the latest in connection with Umesh Pal’s murder. Atiq’s criminal story began in 1979 when he was named as an accused in a murder case. Ten years later, he stepped into politics and won the Allahabad West assembly seat as an Independent in elections in 1989, 1991 and 1993. He contested the 1996 elections from the seat on the Samajwadi Party ticket and emerged victorious.

In 1999, he joined the Apna Dal (AD) and lost the Pratapgarh seat. He again won the Allahabad West seat in the 2002 Assembly elections on the Apna Dal ticket. In 2003, Atiq returned to the SP fold and in 2004, he won from the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency — the seat once held by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He was named as an accused in Raju Pal’s killing in 2005.

In the 2012 Assembly elections, Atiq again tried his luck with Apna Dal from the same seat but lost to BSP’s Puja Pal by a margin of 8,885 votes. He also contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from Shravasti on an SP ticket but lost.

In 2019, while he was still in jail, Atiq filed a nomination from the Varanasi constituency against Prime Minister Narendra Modi but managed to get only 855 votes.

In the sustained drive against gangsters under the Yogi Adityanath government, property worth over Rs 150 crore belonging to Atiq and his family members under the Gangster Act, has been attached, IANS reported.

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