There was much jubilation at the Dhoomanganj home of BSP legislator Pooja Pal, after word spread that expelled Samajwadi Party MLA Atiq Ahmed had been arrested in New Delhi on charges of murdering her husband, BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005.
Pal said, “He was the main accused in my husband’s murder. It was ruthlessly carried out in broad daylight. He will now have to tell the truth to the police.” She said the news of Ahmed’s arrest had brought joy and relief. Pal represents the same constituency — Allahabad West — from where her husband was elected some four years ago.
But the Uttar Pradesh police had little to cheer about. They had done everything but arrest the man.
Last July, the UP Police, with the help of the Special Task Force, had combed the state and the country to hunt down Ahmed. They had executed court orders to attach his properties, frozen nine bank accounts, including the one in Lucknow; and had bulldozed nearly a dozen houses, hotels and commercial complexes—to build pressure for his arrest.
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Superintendent of Police (City) Uday Jaiswal told The Indian Express:
“We are trying to take Atiq Ahmed on transit remand. He is in Tihar at present.”
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The police further strengthened efforts to ferret out Ahmed after Chief Minister Mayawati said last month that she feared for her life if Ahmed roamed free. The CM had made her apprehensions clear at a press meet in New Delhi. She had also accused the Congress of patronising the MP.