Police convoy carrying gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed to reach Prayarag in evening

Atiq Ahmed. Pic/PTI

Separate police convoys are on the way taking gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf from Ahmedabad and Bareilly jails to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday.

Ahmed will be produced before a court on Tuesday when it passes an order in a kidnapping case registered in 2007 in which he is an accused.

A police team reached Sabarmati jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city on Sunday morning and left the premises with Ahmed amid tight security around 6 pm.

After passing through different states, Ahmed's cavalcade entered Uttar Pradesh on Monday morning and reached Jhansi police lines, where it stopped for about one and a half hour.

Officials said it will proceed towards Jalaun and reach Prayagraj via Bundelkhand Expressway in the evening.

The cavalcade is being followed by media teams, Ahmed's sister and lawyers.

Talking to reporters Ahmed's sister Ayesha Noori expressed apprehensions that his brother might be killed.

There is an apprehension of an encounter. He is not a criminal. The cases against him are in court and he should not be termed as criminal," she said.

When asked why she fears the worse, Noori said, "There was chief minister's statement in the assembly due to which we are afraid. However, we have trust in the CM. He is chief minister of the entire state," Noori added.

After Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 killing of then BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two security guards were killed in a brazen shooting on February 24, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had, while speaking in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, vowed to destroy the mafia in the state.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, while talking about the convoy bringing Ahmed to the state, said, "We are following court orders with commitment and transparency. The Samajwadi Party has a big role in criminalisation...We are taking out the state from the grip of criminals. How can SP defend Atiq, who is accused of killing a family member of his party MLA."

Atiq Ahmed's brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf, who is lodged in Bareilly jail is also being taken to Prayagraj by a separate police team.

He left the jail at about 10 am, officials said.

"Khatra hai (there is danger)," Ashraf said replying to questions of reporters from inside a van.

Also Read: I know their programme, they want to kill me: Atiq Ahmed

Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party MP from Phulpur, was shifted to the Sabarmati central jail in June 2019 following a Supreme Court order after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault on a real estate businessman, Mohit Jaiswal, while in prison in UP.

He is named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the recent Umesh Pal murder case, according to police.

Two of the accused in these cases were shot dead in separate encounters by police on February 27 and March 6 this year.

On March 1, Ahmed moved the Supreme Court, claiming there is a genuine and perceptible threat to his and his family members' lives, and referred to the statement made by Adityanath.

He had said the Uttar Pradesh Police in all likelihood will seek his transit remand and also police remand to take him from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj and he genuinely apprehends that he may be eliminated during this transit period.

BJP Lok Sabha MP Subrat Pathak had said he would not be surprised if mafia Atiq Ahmed's vehicle overturns like that of gangster Vikas Dubey.

Dubey was gunned down in July 2020 by the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh Police shortly after a police SUV in which he was being brought to Kanpur from

Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh overturned under mysterious circumstances on a highway. Police claimed that he had tried to flee.

Ahmed had on Sunday expressed apprehensions that he might be killed on the way to UP.

"Mujhe inka programme maloom hai...Hatya karna chahte hain (I know their programme ...they want to murder me)," he had said.

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