Umesh Pal kidnapping case: Police van, carrying Atiq Ahmed, arrives at Prayagraj Court

On Tuesday, a police van carrying mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed arrived at Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj MP-MLA Court for a hearing in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case.

CCTV cameras and security equipment have been installed in the police van used to present Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj’s MP-MLA court. The Prayagraj MP-MLA Court’s security has been beefed up.

Earlier today, Daya Shankar Mishra, lawyer of Atiq Ahmed at MP-MLA Court in Prayagraj said, “The strategy would be decided only after the verdict. We have the right to appeal (in a higher court).”

Public prosecutor Gulab Chandra Agrahari, in Prayagraj, said, “Prosecution presented eight witnesses before the Court. Every person is equal in the eyes of law. Law is supreme. The sentence would depend on the Court. Hearing for 10 accused ongoing at the Court, one accused died.”

Atiq Ahmed, a gangster-turned-politician and a defendant in the case, was transferred from Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail to Prayagraj’s Naini Jail on Monday after a nearly 24-hour drive from Gujarat.

The family of Umesh Pal, the lawyer who was kidnapped and killed, said on Tuesday that they want the death penalty for mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, a key suspect in the case, stating that they want his “empire of terror to end.”

“…We don’t have the strength to fight a case in the time to come. He (Atiq Ahmed) should be sentenced to death by hanging. If he is sentenced to life imprisonment, he can do anything from jail. He got my son killed from jail. He won’t let us live if he remains there…” Umesh Pal’s mother Shanti Devi told ANI ahead of a hearing of the case in Prayagraj court.

Umesh Pal’s widow Jaya Pal said, “I hope court sentences him to death by hanging. If he lives, perhaps we won’t be able be alive. Maybe it would be us next. If he is gone only then will terror be gone…”
“I want Atiq Ahmed’s empire to end, I don’t want him to be alive. I urge the court to give him a death sentence,” she said.

Ahmed is also a suspect in the 2005 slaying of BSP MLA Raju Pal. Umesh Pal, a key witness in the Raju Pal murder case, was assassinated on February 24 in Prayagraj.

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