CBI searches residences of ex-MP Ateeq Ahmad and associates

The CBI on Wednesday searched the premises of former Samajwadi Party MP Ateeq Ahmad and others in Allahabad and Lucknow in a case related to the abduction and assault of a businessman when the former parliamentarian was lodged in jail, officials here said.

The searches were conducted at four places in Allahabad -- at the residences of Ahmad, his son Mohammed Umer and his associates Zaki Ahmed and Farooq. The residences of his Chartered Accountant Nitesh Mishra and his alleged aide Pawan Kumar Singh were searched in Lucknow, they said.

"The Central Bureau of Investigation has today conducted searches at six locations including Lucknow and Prayagraj/Allahabad at the premises of Ex. MP; his associates and others in an ongoing investigation of a case. Certain incriminating documents and articles have been recovered during searches," CBI spokesperson said R K Gaur said in a statement.

Ahmad was booked on June 12, 2019 on the allegation that he had demanded extortion money from a Lucknow-based real estate dealer, Mohit Jaiswal, in December 2018 from Deoria Jail where the former MP was lodged.

"It was further alleged that when the businessman opposed the same, the associates of ex-MP (Ahmad) abducted him from Lucknow in a car and took him to Deoria Jail, the said ex-MP was present," Gaur said.

It was also alleged in the FIR that the businessman was criminally intimidated and beaten up by Ahmad and his men and all his four firms were forcefully got transferred in the name of the associates of Ahmad, he said.

The case was registered following the Supreme Court's direction, the official said.

Taking note of allegations against Ahmad, the Supreme Court had in April this year ordered his transfer to a jail in Gujarat. He was shifted to Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat in June this year.

Ahmad was a Samajwadi Party member in the 14th Lok Sabha from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh from 2004 to 2009.