The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed shifting former MP Ateeq Ahmad to a high-security jail in Gujarat for kidnapping and assaulting a businessman in prison in Uttar Pradesh.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ordered a CBI probe into the incident which allegedly occurred in Deoria jail.
The court ordered the suspension of five jail officials against whom the Uttar Pradesh government has initiated departmental proceedings for their prima facie involvement in the case.
The Bench asked the State government to give the status report of 80 cases registered against Ahmed, besides the 26 pending in different courts. At the outset, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, appointed as amicus curiae (who assists a court by offering information, expertise), submitted his fifth report in the case.
Mr. Hansaria, assisted by advocate Sneha Kalita, told the Bench that jail norms were relaxed with respect to visitors meeting Ahmad.
Businessman Mohit Jaiswal had filed an FIR on December 28, 2018, alleging that he was kidnapped from Lucknow and taken to the prison where he was assaulted by the jailed don and his aides and was forced to transfer his business to them.
On April 11, the Uttar Pradesh government had told the apex court that Ahmad, who was lodged in Deoria jail, had indeed kidnapped and assaulted Jaiswal on December 26 last year.
Confirming the incident, the U.P. government had said CCTV cameras in the jail complex were tampered with at the time of the incident.
