Atiq Ahmed's aide Safdar Ali's illegal property to be bulldozed
02 Mar 2023 15:59:53
Prayagraj, Mar 2: The Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday resumed its demolition drive, moving in bulldozers to demolish a two-storied house belonging to a gun store owner, allegedly close to mafia politician Atiq Ahmad.
Atiq, his wife Shaista Parveen, and his sons are named accused in the sensational murder of advocate Umesh Pal, a prime witness in Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal’s murder, in which Atiq was the prime accused. On Wednesday, the PDA demolished a house where Atiq’s absconding wife lived in Prayagraj.
Safdar Ali, who owns a gun store in the Jhonstonganj area and whose house in the Chakia locality in Dhumanganj police station is to be demolished, refuted the police claim of being close to Atiq. PDA officials claimed the house was illegally constructed, a charge Safdar denied. Safdar claimed he had never supplied any weapons or bullets either to Atiq or his aides. “I never received any notice from the PDA regarding my house being illegally constructed,” he said. When PDA and police teams arrived to demolish the house valued at ₹3 crores, Safdar and his family refused to vacate the premises. The officials, however, snapped the power connection of the house and started clearing the premises. “I have absolutely no relations of any kind with Atiq Ahamd or anyone. I believe someone has made a false complaint against me in this regard and that is why this action is being taken,” Safdar said. PDA vice-chairman Arvind Kumar Chauhan, however, maintained that the house was constructed in violation of the norms. “The house was illegally constructed in violation of set norms and is therefore being demolished. Notice was issued to the owner of the house as per norms and all the required process has been followed,” he said. On February 24, lawyer Umesh Pal was killed outside his residence in the Sulem Sarai area of Prayagraj. His two security guards were injured. One of them, Sandeep Nishad, died the same day later while the other security personnel Raghvendra Singh succumbed to his injuries at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS)-Lucknow on Wednesday. Umesh Pal was a key witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder in Prayagraj in which ex-MP Atiq Ahmad and his brother and former MLA Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf, besides many close aides, are the prime accused.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against 17 people for the February 24 murder of lawyer Umesh Pal on a complaint by his wife Jaya. The police complaint names Atiq Ahmad, his wife Shaista Parveen, and sons, Atiq’s younger brother Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf, among others. They were booked under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, police said.