PRAYAGRAJ Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed’s ill-gotten money was not only channelised into real estate but also invested in diamond mines, hotel business and dairies through his partners across several states of the country, said police officials.
Atiq’s interrogation revealed names of some big businessmen who were his partners in various big projects, they claimed. He also provided details about persons who acquired his ‘benami’ properties in Prayagraj, Lucknow, Delhi, Noida and Mumbai, besides his investments with different traders in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and many cities in Uttar Pradesh, said an official part of the probe into Umesh Pal mueder case.
While in jail, Atiq became partner of two brothers of Ahmedabad who were into real estate business. The other partners of Atiq in Gujarat included a businessman of Bohra community and his son who were lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail along with Atiq, said officials who questioned Atiq regarding his ‘benami’ properties.
While in Lalitpur jail a few years back, Atiq invested in diamond mining in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. However, after being shifted to Sabarmati jail in 2019, Atiq even had a monetary dispute with his partner who had big stakes in the diamond mining sector, they added,
Atiq Ahmed also had business ties with a big hotelier in Mount Abu.
The officials further claimed that Atiq mentioned names of many other businessmen in Delhi with whom he was in partnership in businesses. These names included a businessman of Rajauri Garden, a trader of Shaheen Bagh in Okhla Vihar, owner of a dairy in Noor Nagar and two persons of Zakirbagh area in Delhi. These people have Atiq’s ‘benami’ properties in Noida and Delhi, the officials said.
Atiq also informed the police about some ‘benami’ properties in Mumbai about which further investigations were being carried out, the officials said.
Investigations about Atiq’s associates in Prayagraj revealed that he was working with Imran Zai, Zeeshan Zai, Mohd Muslim and some other people of Kaushambi in the real estate sector. The real estate project was spread over 1,000 bighas of land in Beerampur, Bakshi, Lakhanpur, Saidpur, Rawatpur, Karehnda and others areas. Moreover, Atiq and Ashraf were running over eight firms involved in the real estate business in Prayagraj and Lucknow.