Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 13: The notorious politician-gangster Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad, and his co-accused in the Umesh Pal murder case Ghulam were killed in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) police on Babina road on the outskirts of Jhansi on Thursday after nearly two-month long pursuit.
The two absconders were among the seven named as accused in the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder case of then BSP MLA Raju Pal. Umesh and his two police security guards were shot dead outside his home in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj area on February 24 this year. Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, Asad, Ghulam and others.
The FIR was lodged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
“Asad and Ghulam were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj and were carrying a reward of ₹5 lakh each. They were killed in an encounter with the U.P. STF team,” Special Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prasahant Kumar said.
“The U.P. STF team was led by Deputy SP Navendu and Vimal. Sophisticated foreign-made weapons were recovered from the accused. Further details are awaited,” the officer added. The notorious Atiq Ahmad is also an accused in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case.
The encounter took place at a time when Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were being produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Prayagraj Dinesh Gautam around 11:10 a.m. amid security deployment, by the police for remand for investigation into the Umesh Pal murder case. Atiq is already serving life imprisonment and is lodged in the Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad for kidnapping of Umesh Pal in 2006. Atiq reportedly broke down in the court on hearing the news of encounter death of his son Asad, the third among his five sons.
The police said the encounter was preceded by Ghulam opening fire at the STF team around noon and the two were killed in retaliatory action. Sophisticated weapons, new cellphones and SIM cards have been recovered from them, they added.
According to police sources, after shooting down Umesh Pal and his two police escorts, Asad had fled to Lucknow. The broad daylight murder of Umesh Pal prompted big questions on the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh and police swung into action to catch those involved. Asad kept changing locations to escape the cops.
From Lucknow, Asad fled to Kanpur. From there, he went to Meerut and stayed there for a week, said police sources. He then moved to Delhi and stayed in the national capital’s Sangam Vihar area. He then travelled to Ajmer. From there, he decided to flee to Madhya Pradesh, a plan that would take him through Uttar Pradesh. While constantly shifting base, Asad changed 10 SIM cards to avoid being tracked, police sources said.
The UP police sources said they had an informer in Atiq Ahmed’s gang, who kept them posted about Asad’s whereabouts. As the wanted criminal moved to Jhansi, police started raiding locations in the city to catch him. Asad and Ghulam set out on a bike for Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. He was in disguise to avoid being caught.
A UP Special Task Force team, which was tracking Asad, intercepted the two on their way to Madhya Pradesh. According to police, Ghulam opened fire on the 12-member police team. In retaliatory firing by the cops, Asad and Ghulam were shot dead. As many as 42 rounds were fired during the encounter.
In a related development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also carried out searches at more than a dozen locations in the State as part of its ongoing money laundering case against Atiq, a former Member of Parliament representing the Samajwadi Party, and a former five-term MLA of the UP Assembly. Multiple teams of the ED searched premises of close aides of Atiq including his lawyer Soulat Hanif.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised the UP STF, DGP, Special DG law and order, and the entire team behind the encounter, UP CMO said in a statement. “After the encounter of former MP Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad and his aide, CM Yogi Adityanath took a meeting on law and order. CM Yogi praised UP STF as well as DGP, Special DG law and order and the entire team. Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary Home informed the CM about the encounter. A report was placed in front of the CM on this whole matter,” it said.
Soon after the encounter, Umesh Pal’s mother Shanti Devi thanked Yogi Adityanath for “serving justice” and said, “I appeal to him to give us justice ahead also. We have full faith in CM.”
Only last month, Atiq Ahmed and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Prayagraj court for the 2006 kidnapping of Umesh Pal. Seven others were acquitted, including Atiq’s brother Ashraf. The court held Atiq, Dinesh Pasi and Khan Shaukat Haneef guilty.
Umesh Pal, a lawyer, was a witness in the 2005 murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal. On February 24, he was shot dead in a daylight attack outside his home in Prayagraj. The security personnel guarding him were also killed. The broad daylight murder of Umesh Pal also put the spotlight back on Atiq Ahmed, a gangster-turned-politician with over 100 cases against him.
The encounter killings of Atiq Ahmed’s son and his associate come against the backdrop of the gangster’s repeated allegations that the Uttar Pradesh police plans to gun him down in a staged encounter.
In fact, the gangster told reporters yesterday that he was safe because of the media. “It’s because of you (media) that I am safe,” he told the press while being brought to Prayagraj for a court date.
The gangster was moved to a prison in Gujarat on the directions of the Supreme Court after he was accused of engineering the kidnapping of a real estate businessman while in jail. He has been in the Sabarmati central jail since June 2019.
Over the past couple of months, Atiq Ahmed has been repeatedly brought to Uttar Pradesh for court hearings. The high-profile nature of the case and the gangster’s apprehensions of a staged encounter has ensured extensive media coverage of the movements.
After today’s encounter, four people linked to Umesh Pal’s murder have been gunned down. Police are still looking for Guddu Muslim, who allegedly lobbed a bomb during the shooting, and another alleged shooter Sabir. Atiq Ahmed’s wife Shayista is also on the run.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, however, claimed that Asad and Ghulam were killed in a “fake encounter” by the UP police. Accusing the BJP government in UP of carrying out a “fake encounter” to kill the duo, he alleged that the ruling party was trying to divert the attention of the people from the real issues plaguing the state.
Yadav said the BJP government did not believe in the courts and was taking the law into its own hands. He said it was not right for those in power to pass judgement on who was right or wrong and to decide who should live or die. “With fake encounters, the BJP government is trying to divert attention from the real issues. The BJP does not believe in courts at all. Today’s and recent encounters should also be thoroughly investigated and the culprits should not be spared. Those in power do not have the right to decide what is right or wrong. BJP is against harmony,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.
While Asad, 19, has now been killed, Atiq’s wife Shayista Parveen is still absconding. The third of the couple’s five sons, Asad was a first-year student at a law college. The couple’s two elder sons are jailed in other cases, while two minor ones are housed by the authorities in a shelter home.
This is quite a turnaround for the 60-year-old gangster-turned-politician who has survived many regime changes in Uttar Pradesh in his nearly four-decade run, under the benefaction of different parties, while straddling the permeable world of crime and politics in the state. A certified “history-sheeter” as well as former MP and five-time MLA, he has almost 100 cases against him and, as per latest UP police records, runs a gang with “144 members”. His lawyer Vijay Mishra said trials in 50 cases against him are pending.
Atiq’s first run-in with the police is recorded as back as 1984 when he was booked for attempting a murder in Prayagraj.
Five years later, in 1989, Atiq won his first election as an MLA from Allahabad West, as an Independent. After he retained his seat in the next two Assembly elections as well, also as an Independent, the SP opened its doors to him.
Then, in 1995, Atiq came to notice with the guest-house incident. It involved the attack on the complex where the then Chief Minister Mayawati was staying with her MLAs. Alleged MLAs and workers of the SP surrounded the guest-house and went on a rampage, angry over the BSP having broken ties with the SP and seeking out the BJP to form the government. Mayawati had to lock herself in a room while several of her MLAs were “captured”, and later claimed to have defected to the SP.
In 1996, Atiq won from Allahabad West the fourth time, as an SP candidate. Three years later, he moved to the Apna Dal, and in 2002, again won the seat. By 2004, it was the SP again for him, and this time he won from the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat which was once represented by the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
A year later, came the case for which Atiq finds himself in trouble now. In 2004, in the bypoll held for the Allahabad West seat, after Atiq had moved to the Lok Sabha, BSP candidate Raju Pal defeated his brother Ashraf, fighting on an SP ticket. In January 2005, Raju Pal was gunned down, along with two of his associates, and Atiq was named as an accused along with Ashraf and others. Ashraf now has 52 cases against him and is currently lodged in a Bareilly jail.
With the SP in power in the state at the time, on the Supreme Court’s orders, the case was transferred to the CBI. It filed a charge-sheet in 2019 against 10 people.
Subsequently, Atiq was also booked by the agency for a 2018 incident involving the alleged kidnapping of Lucknow-based businessman Mohit Jaiswal, who was taken to Deoria district jail, where the former was lodged at the time. Jaiswal claimed he was forced to sign documents for property worth Rs 48 crore in favour of his associates.
Atiq’s eldest son Mohammad Umar, who is currently lodged in a Lucknow district jail, is a co-accused in the Jaiswal case. His second son, Mohammad Ali Ahmed, is currently in Naini jail for alleged involvement in a case of assault on a property dealer in December 2021.
Apart from the Umesh Pal killing, Shayista Parveen has had at least three other cases registered against her since 2019 under forgery and arms charges at the Colonelganj police station in Prayagraj. The cases are pending in court, said a police officer. Earlier this year, in January, Parveen joined the BSP. After the police named her in the Umesh murder case, the BSP has distanced itself from Parveen.
While on the run, Parveen moved a local court in Prayagraj saying that the police had “illegally” taken away two of her minor sons – apart from the three named in police cases or in jail – on the evening of February 24 and that she had no information about them. The police later told a local court that the boys had been found in Prayagraj and were admitted to a child protection home.