After a Prayagraj court found them guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case, gangster Atiq Ahmed and two others were sentenced...
Digital Desk: After a Prayagraj court found them guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case, gangster Atiq Ahmed and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Seven others have been convicted in the case, including Atiq Ahmed's brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf.
Ahmed, a former MP and MLA who faces at least 100 criminal charges, including murder and kidnapping, was transported from a Gujarat jail to Prayagraj by Uttar Pradesh police on Monday after a 24-hour road trip.
Today, footage from outside the court showed a long police cavalcade transporting the gangster-turned-politician in big vans as crowds assembled on both sides of the road.
Ahmed's conviction comes just a month after the shocking murder of Umesh Pal, a crucial witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal.
Umesh Pal was shot dead as he got out from the backseat of a Hyundai Creta SUV in Prayagraj on February 24. Two of his police bodyguards were also slain in the shootout.
CCTV video showed Umesh Pal and one of his two police bodyguards leaving the SUV when multiple shooters came from behind and opened fire at him.
During the attack, another man was seen using homemade bombs, which detonated in a cloud of smoke that caused pandemonium on the road as people ran for safety. Many people ran towards stores while leaving their cars behind.
According to the UP police, Atiq Ahmed killed Umesh Pal because the latter had identified him as the main suspect in the 2005 murder. In 2006, Umesh Pal claimed that he was abducted at gunpoint after refusing to change his statement to the police.
The court decision in the 2006 kidnapping case was delivered today in Prayagraj.
Following tough questions about the public killing of Umesh Pal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lashed out at opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav in the state assembly a day after the February shootout in Prayagraj, even mentioning his feud with his father.
"Isn't it true that Atiq Ahmed, who has been accused by the victim's family, is a member of the mafia nurtured by the Samajwadi Party, and we have only worked to break its back?" Yogi Adityanath spoke while pointing at Yadav.
"Speaker sir, he is the patron saint of all professional criminals and mafia. They are bloody criminals...We will run this mafia to the ground today," the Chief Minister once more pointed his finger at Yadav.
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