‘Because of you, I'm safe...’ Jailed gangster Atiq Ahmed thanks media

Jailed gangster Atiq Ahmed, who was being taken to Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj from Gujarat's Sabarmati Jail, on Wednesday thanked the media and said it is because of the media that he is safe.

"It's because of you (the media) that I am safe," Atiq Ahmed told reporters while being transferred to Prayagraj.

On Tuesday, Prayagraj Police was taking mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed from Sabarmati Jail to Prayagraj, to present him in a murder case and took a halt in Bundi."My family has been ruined...I was in jail what will I know about it (Umesh Pal murder case)," he said in Bundi. Earlier, Atiq Ahmed had said that police wanted to kill him on his transfer from Sabarmati Jail to Prayagraj."It is not right. They want to kill me," he said.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that the government is monitoring the whole matter and aims to get the harshest punishment.

"We are following the court's decision, now criminals will not be able to escape in Uttar Pradesh. The government is monitoring the whole matter, and our aim is to get the harshest punishment," Pathak said. On March 28, Atiq Ahmed was convicted by an MP-MLA court and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in the abduction case of now-deceased Umesh Pal.

Atiq Ahmed and his family came under the scanner in the Umesh Pal murder case.Atiq Ahmed, who has over 100 cases against him over the last 43 years, has been convicted in the same case. Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested three people from the national capital for allegedly aiding jailed gangster Atiq Ahmed's son Asad and planning Umesh Pal's murder. The three arrested people were identified as Jawed, Khalid and Jeeshan.

During the course of the investigation, Khalid and Jeeshan disclosed that they had also provided shelter to Asad and Gulam, who are wanted accused in the infamous Umesh Pal murder case. Umesh Pal, a key witness to the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Raju Pal and one of his two armed security escorts was shot dead in Prayagraj's Sulem Saray area on February 24. Several rounds were fired and bombs were hurled at Umesh and his gunners.

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