The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of former Parliament member Ateeq Ahmad to a high-security jail in Gujarat for allegedly having a businessman kidnapped in December and assaulting him in a prison in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria, where he was lodged.

A Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi-led bench took a strong note of the incident and ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed in the case, Ahmad ordered businessman Mohit Jaiswal’s kidnapping and later assaulted him along with his aides. Jaiswal was forced to transfer his business to them. Ahmad, a five-time state lawmaker, has been jail since February 11, 2017. He was transferred to a Bareilly jail after the incident.

The Uttar Pradesh government admitted on April 11 that Ahmad had indeed kidnapped and assaulted Jaiswal on December 26. It even acknowledged the tampering of CCTV cameras installed in the jail complex at the time of the incident.

The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered suspension of five jail officials over the incident. They are facing departmental proceedings for their “prima facie” involvement in the case.

First Published: Apr 24, 2019 11:04 IST