Uttar Pradesh Police recovered over Rs 74 lakh cash and illegal weapons from a partially demolished office of mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed in Chakia area here on Tuesday following the arrest of five persons, officials said.
They said the front part of the office had been already demolished by authorities using a bulldozer.
On Tuesday, a search was carried out at the site amid a heavy police deployment and a huge amount of cash and illegal weapons were found from the former MP’s office, officials said.
Briefing reporters at the Police Lines here, Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma said, “Five persons — Niyaz Ahmed, Cash Ahmed, Mohammad Sajak, Mohammad Arshad Khan and Rakesh Kumar — were arrested on Tuesday. From them, five foreign-made guns, five country-made pistols and ammunition have been recovered. Six mobile phones were also recovered from them." He added, “Rs 2.25 lakh was recovered from the five arrested persons. Subsequently, on the information provided by two of these arrested accused (Cash Mohammad and Rakesh Kumar), Rs 72.37 lakh was recovered from the office of Atiq Ahmed. In all, Rs 74.62 lakh cash was recovered." Elaborating on the fresh arrests, Sharma said Niyaz Ahmed was assigned the task of following Umesh Pal, the key witness in the 2005 killing of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad had made him speak to the gangster-turned politician and his brother Ashraf over the Internet.
A number of meetings were held for the killing of Umesh Pal, who was shot dead in Dhoomanganj area of Prayagraj on February 24 along with his security guard Sandeep Nishad, and Niyaz Ahmed participated in those meetings, Sharma said.
“A phone has been recovered from Niyaz," he said.
About Mohammad Sajak, Sharma told reporters that he used to stay near the house of Umesh Pal.
“Asad had called him (Sajak) to his house, and had given him an iPhone. In that phone, some numbers were already saved. The task of getting the location of Umesh Pal was done with this phone. This accused person used to provide information about the arrival and departure of the vehicle of Umesh Pal," he said.
The police commissioner said Mohammad Arshad Khan alias Arshad Katra took part in the meetings where the conspiracy to kill Umesh Pal and his security personnel was hatched.
Cash Ahmed, who worked as a driver for Atiq Ahmed and his family for the past 16 years, was asked to hide the cash, arms and ammunition after the killing of Umesh Pal, Sharma said.
He said the fifth accused, Rakesh Kumar alias Lala, used to work as a ‘munshi’ (record keeper) for Atiq Ahmed. He was also asked to hide the cash, arms and ammunition, the police official added.
Atiq Ahmed is the main accused in the 2005 killing of BSP MLA Raju Pal.
He was recently booked in connection with the killing of Umesh Pal.
Based on a complaint by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.
The reward for anyone providing information leading to the arrest of five accused, including Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad, has been increased to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2.5 lakh, a senior police official had earlier told PTI.
Two men allegedly linked to Umesh Pal’s murder Arbaaz and Vijay Chowdhary alias Usman were killed in encounters with the police on February 27 and March 6 respectively.
Atiq Ahmed is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)