UTTAR PRADESH: Atiq Ahmed accused of murdering lawyer Umesh Pal has been sent to 7 days of police remand. Atiq was brought from Sabarmati Jail from Pragyaraj for his hearing today.
Atiq who has expressed the fear of being killed in obscurity while in police custody thanked media reporters. When asked by the media if he was scared, he replied, “aap logo ka shukriya (thanks to all of you).”“It’s because of you (the media) that I am safe,” said the gangster.
Ealier today his son Asad Ahmed and aid Ghulam, co-accused in choreographing the murder were killed in an encounter by UPSTF team led by DySP Navendu and DySP Vimal at Jhansi. Sophisticated foreign made weapons were also recovered.
An MP-MLA court on March 28 held gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Ahmed’s brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf and six others were acquitted in the case.