'Kahe ka dar', asks gangster Atiq Ahmed as his convoy halts in MP's Shivpuri before entering Jhansi

Bhopal/Shivpuri, March 27

The convoy of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed being escorted by the Uttar Pradesh police halted briefly in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh on early Monday morning before entering Jhansi on its way to Prayagraj, a police official said.

As the convoy halted briefly at Kharai in Shivpuri district and Ahmed, wearing a white turban, got down from the police van to answer the nature’s call, reporters asked him whether he was “afraid”, to which he replied “kahe ka dar (what fear)” before police personnel whisked him away.

After stepping out of Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening, Ahmed had expressed fear that he might be murdered.

“Hatya, hatya (murder, murder),” Ahmed had told reporters outside the prison while being whisked away in a police vehicle by security personnel.

Earlier, the carcade, which started from Ahmedabad on Sunday evening, entered Madhya Pradesh from the Rajasthan border in the morning, a police official said.

“It halted briefly at Kharai in Shivpuri district at around 7 am to enable Ahmed to answer the nature’s call,” said local police officer Manish Kumar Jadoun.

Another police official said Ahmed’s convoy left Shivpuri district after a brief halt and entered Jhansi district of UP at around 9 am.

The gangster is being taken to Prayagraj from Sabarmati central jail by the Uttar Pradesh police for a court case.

Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party MP, has been lodged in the Sabarmati central jail since June 2019. He was shifted there after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault on a real estate businessman while in prison in UP.

He is named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the recent Umesh Pal murder case, police had said.