By IANS
New Delhi : After evading arrest for eight months, Lok Sabha MP Ateeq Ahmad has been arrested here in connection with the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Raju Pal in Allahabad.
A Delhi court Friday granted Uttar Pradesh Police a two-day transit remand for the expelled Samajwadi Party MP, who represents Phulpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh and was nabbed Thursday night from Ghalib Apartments in west Delhi’s Pitampura locality.
Directing Uttar Pradesh Police to produce Ahmad in the Allahabad High Court within two days, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjeev Jain sent him to Tihar Jail.
The court also ordered the DCP (deputy commissioner of police), 3rd Battalion, to accompany the Uttar Pradesh Police after Ahmad said he feared his life was under threat.
Umesh Pal, a relative of the late Raju Pal, had alleged that Ahmad and his henchmen had picked him up and threatened him with dire consequences unless he refused to give a statement in the court.
Delhi Police is also probing Ahmad’s involvement in criminal cases in the capital.
“Ahmad has been hiding in Delhi to evade arrest. We will be interrogating him for his involvement in any criminal cases in Delhi,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnail Singh said Friday.
Raju Pal’s murder was said to be a fallout of his rivalry with Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Azeem. Pal was shot dead in broad daylight in Allahabad Jan 26, 2005 while he was on his way to his village to participate in the Republic Day function. Azeem was named the main accused in the case.
Mayawati had demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the case and accused the Congress of patronising Ahmad. The MP, on the other hand, has claimed that the Uttar Pradesh Police were conspiring to kill him.
Ahmad, who has 13 criminal cases pending against him and had a cash reward of Rs.20,000 on his head, has denied involvement in Pal’s murder.
Uttar Pradesh Police had secured a non-bailable warrant against Ahmad and declared him wanted on July 24, 2007. Police released seven sketches in different disguises in connection with the murder case in January 2008, following which Ahmad was expelled from the Samajwadi Party.
His property in Allahabad was also attached.