Atique Ahmed, dreaded mafia-politician of Uttar Pradesh, meets a gory end in Prayagraj

In a macabre incident, jailed gangster–turned-politician Atique Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead near a medical college in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, April 15, night. Both of them were shot multiple times from point blank range, which led to their death at the spot, by three men.

Atique Ahmed and Ashraf were shot dead while they were being taken to the medical college for medical examination. They were killed just two days after Atique's son Asad Ahmed was shot dead in an encounter with Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force team in Jhansi district of the state.

According to sources, the incident is allegedly a result of gangwar, as three unknown assailants fired at Atique and Ashraf and later surrendered before the police. Atique was convicted in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case a few days ago.

The police are said to be interrogating all the accused and trying to ascertain the facts. The incident took place in the presence of several police and media personnel along with others. 

Atique Ahmed was convicted by the Prayagraj MP-MLA court a few days back and sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the 2007 Umesh Pal kidnapping case. He was also named in the sensational Umesh Pal murder case, which took place in Prayagraj in February 2023 and was carried out by his son Asad and his associates.

Atique Ahmed's political run

The mafia don, who was killed on Saturday night, was known for the criminal history he had in Uttar Pradesh. He was allegedly involved in over 100 criminal cases.

Atique served five terms as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Uttar Pradesh and got elected as a Lok Sabha MP once. His political innings got a kickoff in 1989, when he was elected as MLA for the first time from the Allahabad West constituency. He won the assembly polls from the same constituency for five consecutive times.

From 1989 to 1996 he was an independent MLA for three terms. Later, he joined the Samajwadi Party and got elected on the party’s ticket in 1996 from the same seat. In 2002, he won the seat as a candidate of Apna Dal for the fifth time.

In 2004, Atique, a serving MLA, won the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

Atique's political downfall

In 2008, he was expelled from the SP, following his arrest on charges of various heinous crimes, for which he was even declared absconder by the court before getting arrested. Since then he contested many elections while being lodged in jail, but managed to win none.

In the Lok Sabha 2009 election, Atique was allowed to contest, since he was not convicted in any case, but was denied a ticket by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), following which, he joined Apna Dal and contested election from the Pratapgarh constituency only to lose.

He was married to Shaista Parveen and the couple had five sons including Ali Ahmed, Umar, Asad, Ahzaan and Abaan.

Among them, Shaista and son Asad were also wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case that took place on February 24, 2023. However, his son Asad was killed in an encounter on April 13 by the UPSTF in Jhansi district. Police are searching for his wife.

Atique Ahmed's sordid history

The 60-year-old gangster-turned-politician is said to have committed his first murder in 1979. Consequent to that, one after the other, he was named in over 100 criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, extortion, abductions, illegal mining, intimidation and among others.

As per reports, he faced strong rivalry from Shaukat Ilahi, another gangster of his time. But Shaukat was killed in an encounter in 1989 in Prayagraj, which led Atique Ahmed taking over the entire empire of the crime world in the district and also the state. Incidentally, he made his debut in representative politics in the same year, winning the Allahabad West Assembly seat as an independent candidate, which gave him much needed power in his hand.