supreme court atiq ahmed

‘Will Augment Security’: Adityanath Govt Tells SC at Mukhtar Ansari’s ‘Life Threat’ Plea Hearing

In his petition, the former MLA’s son had expressed concern for his father’s well-being by drawing attention to the murder of former Lok Sabha MP and tainted politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad on live television.

New Delhi: The Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has assured the Supreme Court that “necessary augmentation of security as needed will be made,” to ensure that no harm is caused to jailed former legislator Mukhtar Ansari while in custody.

The UP government made the submission in court while responding to a writ petition recently filed by Ansari’s family apprehending that the government run by Adityanath was planning to assassinate him in Banda jail where he is currently lodged. In a writ petition filed under Article 32 of the constitution, Ansari’s younger son Umar Ansari had on December 4 sought protection for his father from the apex court in the form of a transfer from the Banda jail to a prison outside the state. Mukhtar faced an “immediate and grave threat to his life and limb” in UP, said Umar.

While the state government assured the SC that it would augment Ansari’s security, its counsel sought time to obtain instructions from the state on the question of shifting Ansari to a jail outside UP.

A division bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol, while hearing the matter on December 15, also directed the state government to provide the court with a current status of the trial in the cases involving Ansari. The matter would be next heard on January 16, 2024.

In his petition, Umar Ansari had expressed concern for his father’s well-being by drawing attention to the murder of former Lok Sabha MP and tainted politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad on live television while they were being escorted by a team of policemen for a routine medical check-up in Prayagraj on April 15. Two weeks before the brothers were murdered by three mysterious assailants in presence of police – who despite being in the line of fire, for reasons only known to them, did not shoot the culprits in self-defence – the SC had dismissed Atiq’s plea seeking protection during his custody with the UP police in the Umesh Pal murder case. Umesh Pal was a key witness in the murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, in which the ex-MP was accused.

‘Larger conspiracy’

Arguing for Ansari, senior counsel Kapil Sibal submitted that despite directions by the Allahabad high court to ensure the safety of Ansari, Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva – a co-accused of Ansari in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005 – was shot dead inside a courtroom in Lucknow on June 8, 2023, while he was being produced from jail custody in court.

The Allahabad high court had in May 2023, on a petition filed by Ansari’s wife, directed the DGP UP to ensure her husband’s security inside the jail as well as outside it. The court had directed the police to ensure that “full security” be given to Ansari while shifting him from one jail to another and while producing him before any court from jail and on the way. The HC had taken into consideration the murder of Atiq Ahmad and his brother while passing the directions, and said:

“Media person would not be permitted to interview him. He would be accompanied by the police personnel during his ingress and egress from jail. This order is being passed seeing the recent episode which occurred in the State of Uttar Pradesh, wherein in the garb of media persons some criminals had killed two under trial prisoners, who were in the custody of the Police Personnel, which matters are pending before the Apex Court.”

In his petition, Mukhtar’s son Umar accused the Adityanath government of taking an “inimical position” against the former MLA and hatching a “larger conspiracy” to eliminate him while he is in jail. The threat perception was based on “reliable information” Mukhtar had received that his life was in grave danger and that there “is a conspiracy afoot involving several actors within the state establishment” to assassinate him in Banda jail.

‘Gangster Mukhtar’

A five-time former MLA from Mau in eastern UP, Mukhtar has for long been under the radar of the Adityanath government, which after coming to power in 2017 unleashed the police and the force of the administration against him, his family and supporters. The state government designated Mukhtar a “gangster” and head of gang IS191, and lodged numerous criminal cases against him, his sons, including current MLA Abbas Ansari, his brother and former MP Afzal Ansari and other associates. The government has seized, demolished and freed from “illegal occupation” property worth Rs 605 crores belonging to the Ansari family, said police. Out of this, about Rs 318 crores worth of property was seized by the government under Section 14 (1) of the contentious Gangsters Act, which empowers the district magistrate to attach properties of people after designating them as gangsters. Under the Adityanath rule, this law has been used without restraint against suspected criminals as well as opposition leaders and ordinary citizens.

Also read: Why Are Criminals Called ‘Goonda’, ‘Mafia’ or ‘Don’?

The police said it had also demolished, seized or freed property from the Ansaris under other laws worth Rs 287 crores. Additionally, the police said it had shut down businesses – tender, contract and firms – linked to Ansari amounting to Rs 215 crores.

The police have shot dead five persons linked to Ansari in alleged encounters and taken legal action against 292 persons linked to him; booked 164 of his associates under the Gangsters Act, six under the National Security Act, 67 under the Gangsters Act, expelled 60 of his associates from their districts, arrested 186 and cancelled 175 weapon licences.

Various cases

In the last 15 months, he has been convicted in seven different cases. The seventh conviction came on December 15, when a court in Varanasi sentenced him to six years and five months in prison for a case lodged against him in 1997 on charges of criminal intimidation. The other convictions include a life sentence awarded to him by a Varanasi court in June for the murder of Awadesh Rai, the brother of Congress state president Ajay Rai, and the 10 years imprisonment awarded to him for kidnapping a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader in connection with the murder of Krishnanand Rai in 2005.

Ansari has 65 cases lodged against him, said UP police, adding that it was trying to get him convicted in the 21 cases he was facing trial in through “excellent coordination” and constant monitoring.

In his petition, Umar Ansari said that out of the persons accused of murdering Rai, four, including Jeeva (mentioned above) had already been murdered. While Firdaus was gunned down by the STF in 2006, Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi was murdered in Baghpat jail in 2018 by another convicted gangster Sunil Rathi. More than a week before his murder Bajrangi’s wife Seema Singh had in a press conference in Lucknow on June 29 that year alleged that the UP police along with some political leaders and officials were conspiring to get him eliminated outside the jail in a “fake encounter.” Singh had also claimed that during his stay in Jhansi jail there had been an attempt to poison her husband.

Another aide of Mukhtar, Rakesh Pandey was shot dead by the police in an alleged “encounter” in August 2020 after the SUV he was purportedly travelling in along with four other persons crashed into a tree in the early hours of a Sunday morning. Pandey’s family had accused the police of picking him up from home in Lucknow and then killing him.

SC Asks Uttar Pradesh Why Atiq Ahmed, Brother Were Paraded Before Medical Checkup

The court also asked how the duo’s assassins knew they would be taken for a medical checkup that night and also the location of the hospital where they would be taken.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, April 28, sought a status report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the steps it has taken after the gangster and former MP Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf’s murder while in police custody, and has categorically asked its attorney why the duo was paraded in front of the media and not taken straight to the hospital gate in an ambulance.

On April 15, the duo was shot dead by three men who were apparently posing as journalists during a media interaction late in the night while they were being taken by the police to the Motilal Nehru Divisional Hospital at Prayagraj for a “routine medical check up” at 10:30 pm.

A bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for the state, “We have seen the video footage…why were they not taken to the entrance…why were they paraded?”

The court further asked how the duo’s assassins knew they would be taken for a medical checkup that night and also the location of the hospital where they would be taken. In his reply, Rohatgi told the apex court, “Police custody requires them to be brought for medical examination every two days… They (assailants) we learnt, had been coming there three days in a row.”

Rohatgi also tried to justify the custodial death of the duo by highlighting that Atiq’s son Asad too was killed in a police encounter just a day before and that the family was “embroiled in heinous crimes.”

“The State sought to link the murders with the family’s criminal past,” reported The Hindu, adding, “Mr Rohatgi said an Inquiry Commission with two former High Court Chief Justices and another judge has been constituted by the State. A Special Investigation Team has also been formed to probe the murders.”

The two-judge bench of the SC then directed the state government to file a comprehensive affidavit within three weeks, including details on the steps taken to inquire into the killings of Atiq, his brother, son and another associate just a few days apart in mid-April.

The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari with a plea for an inquiry into not just the Atiq murder but also each of the 183 ‘encounters’ that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017, when Yogi Adityanath became the chief minister. On April 28, Tiwari, who is also the advocate in the case, said there was a “pattern” to these deaths and therefore the court should form an independent committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. He underlined that the present commission was formed by the State whose role is under question in the case.

The bench said the state government should file an affidavit on record within the next three weeks, adding, “If there is a pattern, we may ask the Commission to look into it along with other sample cases.”

The SC heard the case on April 28 as the Chief Justice of India, four days ago, rescheduled it stating that five judges had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and the court was functioning with a reduced number of judges.

Watch | ‘Murder of Atiq Ahmed and Brother Shocking, Raises Damaging Suspicions About Police’

Former Supreme Court Justice Madan Lokur tells Karan Thapar that “whilst there have been encounter deaths before” the killings of the Ahmed brothers is “probably the first time people have been killed by a third person whilst in police custody”.

Former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur says the cold-blooded killing of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf whilst in police custody is “to say the least shocking”, adding that it raises several worrying questions and suspicions about the Uttar Pradesh police.

Justice Lokur was also sharply critical of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s statement on February 25 that “Mafia ko mitti mein mila denge” [Will turn the Mafia to dust], calling it “very unfortunate” and “not good at all.” He also said the Supreme Court, whilst disposing of Atiq Ahmed’s plea on March 28 for protection whilst in police custody, should have asked for “an assurance from the police” that they would protect the gangster turned politician. He twice said the court should have been “more cautious”.

In an interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Justice Lokur said “whilst there have been encounter deaths before” the killings of the Ahmed brothers is “probably the first time people have been killed by a third person whilst in police custody”. The police were meant to protect them but clearly failed.

Justice Lokur said the incident raised four damaging questions/suspicions about the UP police. First, why did the police not take the killers into police custody but instead send them to judicial remand? Don’t they want to/need to investigate? Second, were the police armed? If they were, why did they not fire back? If they weren’t, why not? Atiq Ahmed was clearly a man under threat. Third, how did the killers know Atiq and his brother were being taken to a hospital at 10:30 pm? And how did they know the media would be there and they could masquerade as mediapersons? Were they tipped off by someone? Fourth, what was the need to take them for a medical examination at 10:30 pm? Why couldn’t they have been taken in the morning, particularly as their police custody only ended at 5 pm on Sunday?

Speaking about UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s statement in the UP Assembly on February 25 that “mafia ko mitti mein mila denge”, Justice Lokur said: “ (It’s) very unfortunate to say something like this. It’s not good at all. That’s an indication there’s something wrong with the rule of law, with our judicial system.”