UP: Atiq Ahmad, his wife among 5 booked in forgery case linked to Umesh Pal’s murder

Prayagraj, Apr 9 (PTI) Police have booked gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, his wife Shaista Parveen and son Ali in a forgery case linked to the murder of Umesh Pal, the key witness in the murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal.

The FIR was registered on Saturday at Dhoomanganj police station here in which two more persons — Mohammad Sabir and Rakesh alias Nakesh alias Lala — have been named, the Prayagraj police said in a statement.

During the investigations in the Umesh Pal murder case, police had detained Rakesh for questioning, the statement said.

During interrogation, Rakesh said he had hidden a bag given by Parveen. Subsequently, the bag was recovered and two fake Aadhaar cards having the photo of Ali were found, police said, adding one of the Aadhaar cards carried the name of Sabir, son of Munne Siddiqui.

According to police, the case has been registered under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.

Umesh Pal and his two police security guards were shot dead on February 24 outside his home in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj.

Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.

On March 28, an MP/MLA court held Atiq Ahmad and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. That was Ahmad’s first conviction even though more than 100 cases have been registered against him.

The 60-year-old former Samajwadi Party MP was brought from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat by road for hearing in the case in Prayagraj.

In 2006, Atiq Ahmad and his aides abducted Umesh Pal and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had registered a complaint in this regard.