Atiq Ahmed is no more but his infamously famous stories continue to abound. Ever since the crucial point in his life, undoubtedly the 2004 killing of BSP MLA Raju Pal, life took a series of not-so-favourable turns.
The grisly saga saw him in and out of prison on several occasions, till Ahmed was shifted from the Prayagraj Central Jail to the Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad in June 2019. This evidently, to severe all local influence and power clouts that kept drawing him out on some pretext or the other.
“He used many SIMs while lodged at Sabarmati and was assisted by Bapunagar resident and police informer Altaf Pathan. Interestingly, Pathan contested two Assembly elections on AIMIM and SP tickets respectively,” shared a top cop on strict conditions of anonymity.
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However, even at Sabarmati, his sway led a police informer to hand him a cell phone. This was an open secret. But what is now being learnt is that the gangster-turned-politician and his “informer crony” were eyeing a land deal in Ahmedabad.
Pathan gave a phone to Ahmed that he used till March. It was only after the Umesh Pal murder that authorities began raiding the jails in Gujarat and he was forced to discard any device of communication.
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The land in question currently houses a textile mill in Bapunagar. Ahmed, Pathan and a senior politician were in talks with a realty developer to buy the land. It has also been learnt that the mafia don enjoyed “special priveleges” in jail.
Additionally, insiders at Sabarmati Jail shared: “His confidant Mehraj reached the city 10 days before Ahmed was shifted to Sabarmati. He was the go-between the jail and the outside world. Mehraj was also used to hand over gifts to high-level police officers and a senior politician to ensure that Ahmed enjoyed various facilities in jail.”
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Mehraj stayed with the owner of a poultry farm at Soni ni Chawl and was later killed in a shootout.
Meanwhile, Pathan is believed to have fled to Dubai even before Ahmed and his brother were killed in presence of the UP Police.
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