Authorities raze house of another aide of Atiq

K Sandeep Kumar and Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui

PRAYAGRAJ: Prayagraj authorities on Friday demolished the three-storey house of a man with alleged links to gangsterturned-politician Atiq Ahmad at Ahmadhpur village on Prayagraj-Kaushambi border, the third time in three days it razed a property with links to the former MP and murder accused.

On Friday evening, Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) officials arrived at the house of Mohammed Mashooquddin, who has dozens of cases registered against him and asked the residents to vacate the house. Officials claimed the house was constructed illegally, a charge the house occupants denied.

“The house was constructed illegally in violation of set norms and was therefore demolished. The notice was also issued to the owner of the house as per norms...,” said PDA vice-chairman Arvind Kumar Chauhan.

But the residents denied the charge. “This ancestral house was transferred in the name of my daughter Tauheed Fatima, who is the daughter-inlaw of Mashooquddin, by him. We received a notice and replied to it. Now, suddenly they have come to demolish it, which is unjust,” said Suhail Ahmad, father of Tauheed Fatima. He claimed that the family had no connection with Atiq Ahmad.

Atiq Ahmad, his wife Shaista Parveen, his sons, and brother Khalid Azeem, a former MLA, were named as accused in the murder of advocate Umesh Pal and two of his police bodyguards. Umesh Pal was a prime witness in the 2005 murder of BSP lawmaker Raju Pal, a case in which Ahmad was the prime accused. An FIR was filed against 17 people for Umesh Pal’s murder on a complaint by his wife Jaya, police said.

ANI PDA demolishes the property of Mohammed Mashooquddin, in Prayagraj on Friday.