An MP-MLA Court in Prayagraj sentenced criminal turned politician Atiq Ahmed and two others on March 28 to life imprisonment in the 2006 kidnapping case of lawyer Umesh Pal.
The former Lok Sabha member from Phulpur, Ahmed and two others, Khan Saulat Hanif and Dinesh Pasi, were convicted and given life imprisonment, and ordered to pay ₹1 lakh as compensation to the family of Umesh Pal, who was later murdered last month.
Also Read | Former MP Atiq Ahmed reaches Prayagraj jail amid heavy security
Seven other accused, including Ahmed’s brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf, a former MLA, have been acquitted in the case.
The former MP is also an accused in the murder of Umesh Pal, a prime witness in the 2005 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal murder that took place on February 24.
Ahmed, who faces more than eight dozen cases, stands convicted under Section 364A (kidnapping a person and the person being put in danger of being murdered) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), among others. While in the court premises, Ahmed faced protests from lawyers who demanded capital punishment for him.
Ahmed’s conviction roughly 43 years after the first criminal case against him was lodged is being seen as a major development in Lucknow since, despite having more than eight dozen cases registered against him across U.P., the criminal-turned-politician has not been convicted in any case as witnesses turned hostile or stopped attending hearings.
The former MP reached Prayagraj to appear in the case on Monday evening amid heavy security deployment from Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat.
A 45-member U.P. Police escort took over Ahmed’s custody on Sunday afternoon and brought him to Naini Central Jail.
The family of the deceased Pal welcomed the MP-MLA court’s decision of convicting Mr. Ahmed, and added that the former MP should also be quickly convicted for the lawyer’s subsequent killing.
“We are very happy with the court’s decision in the kidnapping matter, but he must be sentenced to death in the murder of my brave son, who continuously found against the terror of the criminal [Atiq Ahmed],” Shanti Pal, mother of the deceased, said.
Jaya Pal, the widow of Pal, said that she will continue her fight against Ahmed, whom she described as a demon. “When he [Ahmed] could not force my husband to change his stand in the Raju Pal issue even after kidnapping him, he got my husband killed. I will continue my struggle against Atiq Ahmed. We honour the decision of the judiciary but I request Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to ensure that these criminals get hanged through proper judicial process,” Ms. Pal said.
Also Read | Umesh Pal murder: U.P. Police doubles reward to ₹5 lakh for information on five accused
Amid rising pressure to solve the case related to the Umesh Pal killing, as the five assailants who shot the lawyer dead remain absconding, the State police were forced to announce a cash reward of ₹5 lakh for information leading to the arrest of each of the accused.
It is believed that some of the assailants have sneaked into neighbouring Nepal, which shares an open border with India, making it difficult to apprehend them. As the issue has become a source of embarrassment for the U.P. Police, it has contacted intelligence agencies in New Delhi, which have ground assets in Nepal, for help in finding the prime accused in the case.
The gruesome murder of Umesh Pal on February 24 during the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha led to chaotic scenes in the State Assembly, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saying the State government would destroy the criminals, while alleging that the Samajwadi Party (SP) had nurtured such elements during its regime.
