ED searches premises of Atiq Ahmed’s associates

The Enforcement Directorate has seized cash and papers related to several properties during searches on the premises of the associates of gangster-turned-politician MP Atiq Ahmed, who was gunned down along with his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf by three assailants in April.

The Enforcement Directorate has seized cash and papers related to several properties during searches on the premises of the associates of gangster-turned-politician MP Atiq Ahmed, who was gunned down along with his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf by three assailants in April.

The fresh round of searches was carried out at 10 locations in Delhi Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj and Lucknow on June 14 and 15. The included the premises of renowned builders and chartered accountants. The agency seized ₹17.80 lakh in cash, documents related to sale and purchase of properties, financial records of companies, bank statements, mobile phones, laptops and other physical and electronic evidence.

The ED probe under the Prevention Money Laundering Act is based on a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Atiq Ahmed and his men, following the Supreme Court’s directive, in connection with the allegation of allegation of kidnapping and extortion.

A history-sheeter, Atiq Ahmad ran a gang that was involved in various crimes of serious nature. Over 100 cases related to murders, extortion, land grabbing and other offences had been registered against him in different police stations of the Uttar Pradesh. He had been indulging in criminal activities since 1989, and had captured government and private persons’ properties. He had amassed huge assets in his name and that of his family members, associates and other “benamidars”, as alleged.

In April, before he was killed, the ED had searched the premises of Atiq Ahmed’s associates, leading to seizure of ₹84.68 lakh in cash, gold bar worth ₹60 lakh, gold and diamond jewellery valued ₹2.85 crore, digital devices and other evidence.

Escorted by about a dozen police personnel, Atiq Ahmed and his brother had been taken to a Prayagraj hospital for a routine medical check-up when three young men, posing as mediapersons, had murdered them on April 15 night, two days after his son Asad was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi.