Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad on Wednesday claimed that he was being harassed in Gujarat’s Sabarmati Central Jail and also said that his family was ruined and that he was safe because of the media. The former Uttar Pradesh MLA and Lok Sabha MP was taken to Prayagraj from high-security Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city on Tuesday by a team of UP Police by road in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case. The convoy halted in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district this morning for about 20 minutes, where media persons asked questions to Ahmad at around 7 am, reported PTI.
“My family is ruined. I am safe because of you,” 60-year-old former Ahmad told reporters.
"I am safe because of you people. I have not telephoned anyone from there (inside the jail) as jammers were installed there. I have not hatched any conspiracy and am behind bars for the last six years," he said.
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On being asked about the government saying he will be decimated, Ahmad claimed, “They have already decimated me. I am also being harassed in the Sabarmati jail.”
Earlier on March 26 when he was taken to Prayagraj from the same, the police team had then too made a halt at Shivpuri. When asked if he feared for his life, the gangster-turned-politician said, “Kahe ka darr”. (what fear).
On Wednesday, the police convoy taking Ahmad to Prayagraj entered the Uttar Pradesh border from Jhansi at around 8.45 am.
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Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead along with his two police security guards 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 Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, his wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.
Ahmad was brought from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj on March 26 to produce him in MP/MLA court, which sentenced him to life imprisonment in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case.