New Delhi: Khan Shaukat Hanif, the lawyer of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, has been booked for criminal conspiracy in the Umesh Pal murder case. An official gave this information on Saturday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Deepak Bhukar told PTI that Hanif’s name has been added under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR lodged at Dhumanganj police station in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Bhukar told PTI, “We came to know that Hanif had shared pictures of Umesh Pal with Ahmed’s son Asad a few days before the attack.”
Asad, the third of Ahmed’s five sons, was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on 13 April.
Sources said that the police may soon file a remand application in the court to interrogate Hanif, who is serving life sentence in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case.
Umesh Pal, the main witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two security personnel were shot dead on 24 February.
On February 25, the police registered a case against Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine other accomplices at the Dhumanganj police station.
On March 28, a special court in Prayagraj convicted Ahmed, Hanif and Dinesh Pasi and sentenced them to life imprisonment in a 17-year-old kidnapping case.
Hanif and Pasi were detained at Naini Central Jail, while Ahmed was sent to Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Ahmed and Ashraf, a former Samajwadi Party MP, were shot dead by three assailants on April 15 when the police were taking them for medical examination. He was brought to Prayagraj from jails in Gujarat and Bareilly for questioning in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Opposition got Ateeq Ahmed killed: UP minister
Uttar Pradesh Minister Dharampal Singh on Saturday alleged that the opposition parties got Ateeq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf killed fearing that the two would reveal their secrets.
State Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Singh said, “The truth is that the opposition is involved in Atiq’s murder. Some serious secrets were about to be revealed, so the opposition got him killed.”