Atiq Ahmed's convoy halts briefly in MP's Shivpuri on way to Prayagraj

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 on its way to Prayagraj, a senior official said.

The carcade entered MP from the Rajasthan border, he said.

"The convoy halted briefly in Shivpuri district (more than 300 km from Bhopal) at around 8 AM. It will reach Jhansi, bordering Shivpuri district, in Uttar Pradesh soon," the official said.

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

On Sunday, a team of Uttar Pradesh police reached the Sabarmati jail and left the premises with Ahmed amid tight security at around 6 pm after completing the necessary formalities, officials had said.

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

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

After stepping out of Sabarmati central jail, Ahmed on Sunday 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

BJP Lok Sabha MP Subrat Pathak had said he would not be surprised if mafia Atiq Ahmed's vehicle overturns like that of gangster Vikas Dubey.

Dubey was gunned down in July 2020 by the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh police shortly after a police SUV in which he was being brought to Kanpur from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh overturned under mysterious circumstances on a highway. Police claimed that he had tried to flee.