Atiq's sons seek security in jail, file plea in court

Prayagraj, June 22 Slain gangster Atiq Ahmed's two jailed sons, Umar and Ali, have sought security in the prisons where they are lodged.

According to them, there is a threat to their lives.

The Allahabad High Court has fixed July 12 as the next date of hearing of two separate writs filed the brothers in which they have requested the court to direct that the hearing of their respective cases be done through video conferencing for security reasons.

Besides, an interrogation, if required, be done on the jail premises, where they are currently lodged.

Atiq's eldest son, Umar is at present lodged in Lucknow jail and Ali is in the Naini Central jail in Prayagraj.

Hearing the two separate writ petitions filed by Umar and Ali, a division bench comprising Justices Rajiv Gupta and Manjive Shukla, granted two weeks to the counsel appearing for petitioners to file supplementary affidavit, indicating therein the real apprehensions on the basis of which the present writ petitions have been filed.

In their writ petitions, both Umar and Ali have sought security, especially when the warrants issued by the court are served to them to appear before the court concerned.

The names of both Ali and Umar cropped up during the investigation of the Umesh Pal murder case. However, the police have not filed a charge sheet against them till now in this case.

Lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police security guards Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh were shot dead on February 24, outside his house in the Dhoomanganj police station area of Prayagraj.

On a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife, Jaya, a criminal case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq, his brother Ashraf, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam and nine others.

amita/ksk/