The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Uttar Pradesh police will seek custody remand of jailed mafioso and former MP Atiq Ahmed’s aide Abdul Kavi who is currently lodged in Lucknow district jail after he surrendered before the special CBI court on Wednesday.
The CBI and the police will interrogate him about his hideouts and extract details about how he remained elusive for 18 years.
Kavi is prime accused in the sensational murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in Prayagraj on January 25, 2005.
Kavi had surrendered before the special CBI court in Lucknow on Wednesday, nearly 18 years after the UP police intensified his search in connection with the sensational murder of Umesh Pal who was prime witness in the BSP MLA’s murder. Pal was murdered allegedly by Atiq Ahmed’s gang on February 24 this year.
The CBI included his name in the MLA murder case chargesheet filed in the court in August 2019.
“There are multiple stories floating about Abdul Kavi, and it is really surprising that he never fell in police net during the last 18 years since 2005 even when the state police investigated the Raju Pal murder case till 2015. The CBI took over the case after the Supreme Court ordered the probe by the central agency in January 2016,” said a senior police official aware about the development.
He said as many as four cases, including two cases of murder and the recent case of Arms Act, have been lodged against him and his 11 family members after recovery of several firearms from his house in Kaushambi district during raid after Umesh Pal’s murder.
He said the state police will also interrogate Kavi if the court grants his custody remand and try to find out where he lived during these years and how he managed to evade arrest.
Notably, Kavi is lodged in Lucknow district jail after the court sent him in judicial custody on Wednesday. The state police had recently announced the reward of ₹ 50,000 on his head in the murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal and it was later increased to ₹1lakh. Besides, his house in Bhakhanda village of Kaushambi district was demolished on March 3 and the district court in Kaushambi on March 14 had issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him and his brother, Abdul Wali in the different case following which pressure was mounted on him to surrender.
After Umesh Pal’s murder, the Yogi government has launched a massive crackdown against Atiq Ahmed and his gang members. Other than being prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case, Umesh Pal had also lodged five cases against Atiq and his henchmen for abducting and threatening him to not to record his statement in the case before the court.
The MP/MLA court on March 28 this year had sentenced Atiq, Dinesh Pasi and Saulat Haneef to life imprisonment in the 2006 kidnapping case of Umesh Pal, who was a lawyer by profession.