Sabarmati: A team from Uttar Pradesh police reached Sabarmati Central Jail here today and took mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed to Uttar Pradesh.  As per a UP Court’s order, the verdict in a kidnapping case will be pronounced on March 28. All accused in the case, including Atiq Ahmed, have been directed to be produced before the court on the day.

Atiq had been lodged here since June 2019. He is a key accused in a high-profile killing that took place in February in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier today Atiq was taken out of Sabarmati jail in Gujarat for journey to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh by road. pic.twitter.com/rwOPl0P0XK

— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) March 26, 2023

Ahmed is the main accused in the 2005 murder case of the then BSP MLA Raju Pal, and was recently booked after Umesh Pal, a key witness in the case, was shot dead in Prayagraj in UP on February 24.

Ahmed has been lodged in Sabarmati jail since June 2019, after the Supreme Court had in April that year directed he be shifted to a high-security jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault of a businessman while in jail.

Earlier this month, Ahmed had moved the Supreme Court for protection, claiming he and his family have been falsely “roped in” as accused in the Umesh Pal murder case and the Uttar Pradesh police may kill him in a fake encounter.

In his plea, Ahmed had claimed the Uttar Pradesh police were likely to seek his transit remand to take him from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj and he “genuinely apprehends that he may be eliminated during this transit period”.