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    Atiq Ahmed took over Deoria jail, hosted visitors & roughed up people at will

    Synopsis

    Police investigations have shown that Ahmed managed to get CCTV footage of those three hours deleted from the jail records, a development that has led to suspension of senior jail officials.

    atiq-Ahmad-agenciesAgencies
    Ahmed was shifted to Deoria from his hometown Allahabad’s Naini Jail on April 4, 2017, soon after Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister of UP.
    New Delhi: Strongman Atiq Ahmed built his fiefdom in Deoria jail over the past 20 months, meeting visitors inside his barrack number seven for as long as he desired and using mobile phones to threaten prime witnesses against him in the murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, investigations by UP Police have revealed.

    The matter got exposed after a businessman was abducted by Ahmed’s men from Lucknow and driven to Deoria jail on December 26, where he was roughed up by Atiq inside his barrack for nearly three hours and forced to sign papers transferring his property to Ahmed.

    Police investigations have shown that Ahmed managed to get CCTV footage of those three hours deleted from the jail records, a development that has led to suspension of senior jail officials, and a midnight transfer of Ahmed to the Bareilly jail on Monday night.

    Police have uncovered another case wherein the prime witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, Umesh Pal, was threatened earlier this month by Ahmed’s henchmen from jail over phone, prompting an FIR in which Ahmed will now be interrogated.

    The case is still under trial, nearly 14 years after the murder of the MLA by Ahmed and his men, and CBI is probing it afresh. While Ahmed’s bail was cancelled in the said case last year by the high court, his clout has only grown after contesting as an Independent on the Phulpur Lok Sabha by-poll last year from jail.

    The BJP government in UP, which wants to cut down Ahmed’s influence, has put him on its radar since it came to power. Ahmed was shifted to Deoria from his hometown Allahabad’s Naini Jail on April 4, 2017, soon after Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister of UP. Ahmed, in fact, went to the Allahabad High Court to challenge his transfer but it was rejected. This, however, seems to have been no setback to Ahmed, a former MP, who soon built his clout in Deoria Jail as well. Mobile phones were recovered from his barrack in raids earlier this year too.

    None of his fellow inmates in Deoria jail were ready to testify against him before the police regarding the December 26 incident.


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