'Kahe ka dar' asks gangster Atiq Ahmed as convoy halts in MP

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 before entering Jhansi on its way to Prayagraj, a police official said.

As the convoy halted briefly at Kharai in Shivpuri district and Ahmed, wearing a white turban, got down from the police van to attend nature's call, reporters asked him whether he was "afraid", to which he replied by saying "kahe ka dar" (what fear) before police personnel whisked him away.

Notably, after stepping out of Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening, Ahmed 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.

Earlier, the calvacade, which started from Ahmedabad on Sunday evening, entered Madhya Pradesh from the Rajasthan border in the morning, a police official said.

"It halted briefly at Kharai in Shivpuri district at around 7 AM to enable Ahmed to attend nature's call," said local police officer Manish Kumar Jadoun.

Another police official said Ahmed's convoy left Shivpuri district after a brief halt and entered Jhansi district of UP at around 9 AM.

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

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 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 had said.

Bharatiya Janata Party 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.