Supreme Court shifts former MP Atiq Ahmed to Gujarat jail, orders CBI probe into kidnapping of businessman

Supreme Court on Tuesday shifted former MP and strongman Atiq Ahmed to a Gujarat jail from Naini central jail in Uttar Pradesh. The top court also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the alleged kidnapping and torturing of a businessman by the former politician and his aides inside the jail.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna ordered the suspension of jail officials found guilty for allowing such an incident. According to reports, the case of Ahmed was presented in the court as part of a PIL on fast-tracking proceedings against politicians having criminal cases against them.

Before being transferred to Naini jail, Ahmed was shifted to Bareilly jail from Deoria jail. He was shifted after Lucknow-based businessman Mohit Jaiswal accused the former Samajwadi Party lawmaker of getting him abducted and assaulting him inside the prison.

In his police complaint, Jaiswal alleged that Ahmed's son Umar and about 15 others forcibly took away his SUV in which he was driven to Deoria from the state capital.

Jaiswal alleged that he was assaulted by Ahmed and his supporters and forced to sign papers to hand over his property worth Rs 40 crore before he was let off.

Ahmed, a history-sheeter with at least 70 cases against him, including the killing of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005 in Allahabad, was lodged in Deoria district jail after being transferred from Allahabad's Naini jail. He is now lodged in Bareilly jail.

He has been incarcerated since February, 2017 after being booked for allegedly assaulting faculty members of an agriculture institute in Allahabad in 2016.

With PTI Inputs