Atiq Ahmad Has Admitted to Links with ISI, Lashkar, Says UP Police Charge Sheet

Prayagraj (UP), April 14 (IANS) Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad has confessed that he has direct connections with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, as per the charge sheet filed by UP Police.

"I have no dearth of weapons because I have direct connections with Pakistan's ISI and terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba. Weapons from Pakistan are dropped on the Punjab border with the help of drones and local connections collect them. Terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir get weapons from this consignment. If you take me with you, I can help you recover that money, arms and ammunition used in the incident," the charge sheet mentions Atiq Ahmad as saying.

This is bound to increase troubles for the gangster whose entire family is listed as his gang members.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate's court on Thursday sent Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf to four-day police custody in the Umesh Pal murder case.

The police custody of the duo started from 5 p.m. on April 13 till 5 p.m. on April 17.

Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were brought to the CJM Court in Prayagraj on Thursday morning, even as Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and his aide Ghulam, both of whom were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, were killed in an encounter by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) in Jhansi on Thursday.

Each of them carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh and the police claimed that foreign-made weapons were recovered.

On March 28, Atiq Ahmad was convicted by an MP-MLA court and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in the abduction case of now-dead Umesh Pal.

Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested three people from the national capital for allegedly aiding Asad and planning Umesh Pal's murder. The three arrested people were identified as Jawed, Khalid, and Zeeshan.

During the course of the investigation, Khalid and Zeeshan disclosed that they had also provided shelter to Asad and Ghulam.

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 on February 24. Several rounds were fired and bombs were hurled at Umesh and his gunners.

Meanwhile, official sources said that Atiq Ahmed will not be permitted to attend his son Asad's last rites and members of his wife's family may claim the body.