By IANS
Lucknow : Lok Sabha MP Atiq Ahmad, who was arrested in Delhi Friday in connection with the 2005 murder of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator, was among the “most wanted” criminals of Uttar Pradesh.
The state police dossier describes the expelled Samajwadi Party MP as head of a gang of 138 members. And as per official records, he was still facing trial in as many as 35 criminal cases.
While the Uttar Pradesh Police moved an application before a local court in Delhi seeking the underworld don-turned politician’s remand, the home department in Lucknow gave his dossier to the media Friday evening.
“Atiq Ahmad’s criminal history dates back to 1979 when the first criminal case was registered against him. Since then, he was booked in as many as 175 cases in his home district, Allahabad. Of these, 35 were pending before different courts,” state principal home secretary J.N. Chamber told IANS.
The crimes allegedly committed by Atiq include murder, attempt to murder, extortion, rioting and kidnapping for ransom.
Significantly, in all these decades, he lost only four of his gang of 138. “The current strength of his gang – listed in police records at No. 227 – stood at 134,” the official said.
Atiq, who had been eluding arrest for the last six months, was declared an absconder nearly four months back. Earlier, he enjoyed immunity from the police by switching sides and remaining on the right side of the party in power. He switched between the Samajwadi Party and BSP for some time. He remained with the Samajwadi Party until his political mentor and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav decided to dump him.
“Atiq Ahmad has a criminal background and we have no place for tainted and anti-social elements like him in our party,” the former chief minister had said on Jan 5.
In January 2005, Atiq and his brother Azeem Ashraf were charged in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal who was gunned down in broad daylight in Allahabad. Initially, he surrendered before a local court that remanded him to brief judicial custody after which he was bailed out. He has been at large since then and the state police failed to track him down.
Top cops of Uttar Pradesh feel that the mafia don had “stage-managed his own arrest after he found himself badly cornered”.
Barely a fortnight ago, he had appeared in an exclusive interview on NDTV channel that was reportedly arranged at another MP’s official residence in New Delhi. He had gone to the extent of accusing Chief Minister Mayawati of “hatching a conspiracy” to get him bumped off.
On the contrary, Mayawati has charged the Congress with hiring Atiq to kill her.