KIDNAPPING OF MURDER CASE WITNESS: COURT CANCELS ATIQ AHMAD’S BAIL

PRAYAGRAJ : Acting on the bail cancellation application moved by the Uttar Pradesh government, the MP and MLA court on Monday cancelled the bail granted to Mafioso-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad in a criminal case wherein he had allegedly kidnapped the key witness of BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case and had also compelled him to turn hostile in the case. Atiq is currently lodged in Ahmedabad jail in connection with some other cases.

The bail was granted to Atiq Ahmad, a former MP, by the sessions court, Prayagraj in 2017. Allowing the bail cancellation application filed by the state government, Special Judge, (MP and MLA court), Dinesh Chandra Shukla cancelled Atiq’s bail.

The court further said the accused (Atiq) was indulging in criminal activities after being released on bail, as according to the police report, 75 criminal cases are registered against him. “Hence, in view of the seriousness of the crime and also the circumstances and in the light of the principles propounded by the apex court, the bail deserves to be cancelled,” the court added.

In 2017, Umesh Pal, a witness in the Raju Pal MLA murder case, had filed a complaint alleging that he was kidnapped and pressurised to retract his statement in the case. He alleged that after being kidnapped, he was given a piece of paper and was asked to read it and give a statement in the court accordingly. He was also allegedly threatened if he did not do so, he would be cut into pieces.

BSP MLA Raju Pal was shot dead in broad daylight in Prayagraj on January 25, 2005 and Atiq was one of the accused in the murder case. A CBI inquiry was ordered into the case by the Supreme Court in 2016. Pal was murdered barely three months after he won Allahabad (West) assembly seat in his electoral debut by defeating Ahmad’s younger brother Ashraf.