Police question Atiq , brother Ashraf in Umesh Pal murder case

Police officials on Friday claimed that gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed said during intense questioning that lawyer Umesh Pal was killed for raising his voice against him and interfering in his “illegal” real estate business.

During questioning, Atiq conceded that Umesh failed to pay heed to repeated warnings from him to refrain from interfering in his affairs, especially the highly lucrative property dealing business and was starting to affect Atiq’s prestige and profits both, according to police officials.

Atiq told police officials interrogating him that it was at Umesh Pal’s instigation, that even Atiq’s one-time henchmen started opposing him, forcing his hand to kill Umesh Pal to limit damage to his profits and prestige as well as send a warning to others opposing him, they said.

Atiq reportedly told the police officials that Umesh Pal was determined to get him convicted incourt in any case possible and, despite being warned had gone ahead and registered his testimony in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case. Atiq claimed that it was at Umesh Pal’s instigation that even one-time aides like Zeeshan and Zaid dared to file FIRs against him, and so to teach him a lesson, he was killed with the support of Ashraf.

Earlier, the police began questioning Atiq Ahmed and his younger brother Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf under tight security at the Dhoomanganj police station in Prayagraj after medical examination on late Thursday night.

They were questioned about the motive behind the killing of lawyer Umesh Pal and the whereabouts of the accused who are still at large, including Atiq’s wife Shaista Parveen and associate Guddu Muslim.

Officials said Atiq and Ashraf initially kept mum on most of the questions. They denied having knowledge of the whereabouts of Shaista and the others involved in the murder.

Umesh Pal, a key witness to the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal in 2005, was shot dead in Prayagraj’s Sulem Sarai area under the Dhoomanganj police limits on February 24. Several rounds were fired and bombs were hurled at Umesh and his two police bodyguards, who succumbed to their injuries later. Atiq and his brother Ashraf are among the accused in both the Raju Pal and Umesh Pal murder cases.

The court of the chief judicial magistrate, Prayagraj, on Thursday had allowed four-day police remand of Atiq and Ashraf.

The two brothers will remain in police custody till April 17 and will be sent to Naini Central jail after a proper medical examination in a government hospital, police officials said. The CJM’s court had ordered 14-day judicial custody till April 26.

Police barricaded the Dhoomanganj police station premises as Atiq and Ashraf were taken inside to be questioned separately.

While Atiq asked for medicines on Thursday, on Friday he repeatedly said the authorities should permit him to attend his son Asad’s funeral, people aware of the matter said.

Investigators also asked Atiq and Ashraf about the details of conspiracy hatched in jail but they gave unsatisfactory answers, officials said.

Officials then showed them the CCTV footage and other evidence indicating their involvement in the sensational murder.

Police and UP STF officials would also question them about links with Pakistan-based terror groups and ISI that the police, in their remand application, claimed the brothers admitted to.

In the remand application filed in the chief judicial magistrate’s court, Dhoomanganj police had informed the court that Atiq and Ashraf had confessed to having hidden a large cache of firearms and crude bombs in Prayagraj, Unnao, Kaushambi and Fatehpur districts. The application had claimed that Atiq and Ashraf had also confessed to having received firearms and ammunition from Pakistan which were dropped through a drone at a place close to Pakistan border in Punjab.

As a result, they will also to be questioned about the place at Pakistan border from where they used to receive firearms and from whom they used to purchase them, police had added in the application.

A team of Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) officials will also question Atiq and Ashraf regarding their connection with Pakistan-based firearms dealers. The STF team had recovered sophisticated firearms from Atiq’s son Asad and another assailant Ghulam, who were killed an encounter in Jhansi on Thursday. The duo was using automatic pistols of foreign-make which are not easily available in illegal gun markets.

Earlier, on March 28, Atiq Ahmed was convicted by an MP-MLA court in Prayagraj and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in the kidnapping case of now-deceased Umesh Pal.