Gangster Atiq Ahmed brought to Prayagraj jail; to be kept in specially prepared high-security barrack

After a nearly 24-hour drive from Gujarat, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed was brought to Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj jail on Monday.

Atiq Ahmed has been transferred from Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail to Prayagraj’s Naini jail because he is due to appear in court on March 28 in connection with a kidnapping case. Outside Naini jail, security was beefed up, with a large deployment of uniformed personnel visible.

Dharamveer Prajapati, Uttar Pradesh Jail Minister, told ANI that security has been tightened and a high-security barrack with mounted CCTV cameras has been prepared at Naini jail in Prayagraj (where Atiq Ahmed will be lodged).

On Sunday, Atiq Ahmed was released from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Jail by a 45-member Uttar Pradesh police team.

Earlier, Ahmed expressed concern that he would be murdered while being transported to Prayagraj by Uttar Pradesh police from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central jail.

As he walked out of the Sabarmati jail, Ahmed told reporters waiting outside that a plot was being hatched to kill him under the guise of following court orders.

“Court Ke Kandhe Par Rakhkar Hume Maarna Chah Rahe Hai (They are using the court’s orders as a pretext to get me killed),” Atiq Ahmed said as he was being escorted inside a police van by a 45-member team of Uttar Pradesh police.

Ahmed is the main accused in the Umesh Pal murder case. Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two security personnel were shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24 this year.

Previously, Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma on Sunday said that Atiq is to be produced before a court on March 28 in connection with a kidnapping case, the verdict of which is slated to be pronounced on the same day.

“Court has fixed March 28 as the date for the pronouncing the verdict in an old kidnapping case…All the accused have to be produced before the Court in this matter. To produce Mafia Atiq Ahmed before Court, an accused in this case, a police team has been sent to Sabarmati jail,” the Commissioner said.