'Atiq turned killings into live drills for gang's young crop'

PRAYAGRAJ: Like predators in the wild teaching their young to kill, slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed turned to the animal instinct to train his gang's "nai fasal" (young crop) by using the brutal murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, lawyer-witness Umesh Pal in February this year and many others in the past as "live drills" for rookies, according to retired IPS officer Lalji Shukla.
"Atiq feared that Umesh Pal's statements in court would lead to his sentencing in the Raju Pal murder case. As both his elder sons were in jail, he used this assault as a live workshop for his third son, Asad, to launch him. Similarly, Raju Pal had challenged him by defeating his brother in elections on his home turf. He used the same modus operandi to launch Ashraf, his younger brother," said Shukla, who had arrested the gangster in Prayagraj in 1996 and 2001.
In an exclusive interview to TOI, Shukla said Asad and before him Ashraf didn't "cover their face or hide their identity" by design, so that they could establish their position in the gang and among their rivals. Shukla said Atiq's crime graph kept growing since his first murder in 1979. "Dabbling into politics was an obvious choice because the money collected through extortion and criminal activities needed patronage. Thus, he entered politics in 1989 and tasted his first win as an MLA. Thereafter, he won the same seat four times and became an MP once," he said.
"Atiq had so much greed for money that he had grabbed several properties in the city overnight," said Shukla. He arrested Atiq the first time in 1996 after the murder of a businessman, Ashok Shahu.
Atiq was re-arrested on February 15, 2001, for the murder of corporator Ashfaq aka Kunnu Sabhasad in 1994. The corporator used to work for Atiq, but later turned against him.