angster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad was brought to Prayagraj from the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat by road on Monday amid tight security.
On reaching the city, he was lodged in the Naini central jail. The high security cell of the jail where Atiq's son Ali had been lodged was vacated for him.
The police cavalcade bringing Atiq from Gujarat reached the Naini Jail at 5:30 pm.
A large posse of police personnel was posted at the main entrance of the Naini central jail and the entry of outsiders into the jail premises was stopped. A battery of journalists thronged the area to cover the event.
Additional CCTV cameras have been installed in the cell for round-the-clock watch on the gangster, and the surveillance is being monitored by the top brass of jail administration.
The convoy of the gangster-turned-politician being escorted by police entered Uttar Pradesh after crossing Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. The carcade entered MP from the Rajasthan border in the morning, hours after it set out from the Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening.
The convoy halted briefly at Kharai in Shivpuri district at around 7 am on Monday to enable Atiq Ahmed to attend nature’s call. The convoy left Shivpuri district after a brief halt and entered Jhansi district of UP at around 9 am, officials said.
When Atiq Ahmed, wearing a white turban, got down from the police van to attend nature’s call, reporters asked him whether he was “afraid”, to which he replied by saying “kahe ka dar” (what fear) before police personnel whisked him away. After stepping out of Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Atiq Ahmed had expressed fear that he might be murdered.
Earlier, on its way to Prayagraj on Monday morning, a vehicle in the convoy carrying Atiq Ahmed hit a cow in Shivpuri district. A video of the incident which occurred at around 6:25 am shows a cow darting towards the road when it was hit by the vehicle carrying Atiq Ahmed. The cow fell near the road divider. After the incident, the vehicle stopped for a while before resuming the onward journey. According to eyewitnesses, the cow got up after a while and went away.
Atiq Ahmed will be produced before a court on Tuesday, when it is likely to pass an order in a 17-year-old kidnapping case in which the former MP is an accused.
He has been brought to Prayagraj in compliance with the court’s orders, Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma said
Atiq Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party MP from Phulpur, was shifted to the Sabarmati central jail in Gujarat in June 2019 following a Supreme Court order after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault on real estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal while in prison in Uttar Pradesh. He is named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the recent Umesh Pal murder case, according to the police.
Atiq Ahmad’s younger brother Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf was also brought to Prayagraj from Bareilly Jail by a separate police team under tight security.