Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed (62) was shot dead by assailants while in the custody of Prayagraj police Saturday night. His brother Ashraf was with him and he was killed too. Both were handcuffed and were replying to mediapersons’ queries when the incident occurred and was caught on camera.
Atiq Ahmed, a local don and businessman who first became an MLA from Allahabad West constituency in 1989, went on to win a record five consecutive terms before he vacated the seat to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Phulpur and won.
Atiq was said to be the first person to have been booked under the 'Gangster Act' in Uttar Pradesh, a 2013 IANS report said, quoting police records. According to reports, Ahmed was first accused of murder in 1979. He had over 100 criminal cases registered against him at the time of death — the most recent was the one registered in connection with the February 2023 murder of Umesh Pal, who was a witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case in which he was charge-sheeted.
On March 28, a UP court sentenced him to life imprisonment in a 2007 case in which Umesh Pal had accused him of kidnapping and torturing to change his statement in court in the Raju Pal murder case. This was his first conviction ever.
Atiq Ahmed: Don To MLA To MP
Atiq Ahmed contested the 1989 assembly elections as an Independent candidate from the Allahabad West seat and won. He contested the 1996 polls on Samajwadi Party ticket and then as an Apna Dal candidate in 2002, holding on to the seat throughout. He was the president of Apna Dal from 1999 to 2003.
Allahabad West constituency remained his family stronghold for long.
In 2004, Atiq vacated the assembly seat to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The Samajwadi Party gave him a ticket from Phulpur and he was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha. Phulpur was the same seat from where first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru won the general elections three times.
The seat he vacated was won by BSP’s Raju Pal, who defeated Atiq’s brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf in the 2004 bypoll against all expectations. Within months, Raju Pal was killed. The murder took place on January 25, 2005, and on the basis of a complaint filed by Raju Pal’s wife Pooja Pal, the police booked Atiq along with others in the case.
As the murder necessitated another bypoll, Ashraf this time won the Allahabad West seat, defeating Raju’s wife Pooja Pal.
Atiq surrendered in 2008 after a lot of political pressure, and was subsequently expelled from the Samajwadi Party the same year. BSP leader Mayawati refused to give him a party ticket, saying "(Raju) Pal was very dear to us” and they could not allot a ticket to Atiq who was charged with his killing, as quoted by an IANS report in 2009.
Atiq was, however, allowed to contest the 2009 parliamentary polls from jail since he had not yet been convicted in any case. He was released from jail in 2012.
The Downfall
In 2014, Atiq contested the Lok Sabha poll from the Shrawasti constituency as an SP candidate, but lost to the BJP’s Daddan Mishra. His downfall started soon as his relationship with the party turned sour and Akhilesh Yadav started to distance himself from him.
On December 14, 2016, Atiq and his henchmen were accused of assaulting the staff members of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, reportedly because they had stopped two students from appearing in the examinations since they were caught cheating. A purported video of Atiq beating the staff was widely circulated on social media. Early next year, the Allahabad High Court asked the Allahabad police to arrest all the accused in the case. Atiq was arrested on February 11, 2017. He went on to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in 2019 from jail but lost badly.
A jailed Atiq was moved out of the state in 2018.
His name cropped up again in a criminal case in February this year after Umesh Pal was murdered. He was convicted in a 2007 case involving Umesh Pal on March 28, which became his first conviction. He was brought to Prayagraj from Sabarmati last week for production in court in the Umesh Pal murder case.