Assault on businessman by ex MP Atiq Ahmed to be examined by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Thursday said it will consider on April 23 the report submitted by the Uttar Pradesh government on kidnapping and assault of a businessman allegedly by former MP Atiq Ahmed in a jail. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was told by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who is assisting the bench as an amicus curiae, that the report filed by the state government indicates the businessman was kidnapped by Ahmed.

Hansaria said it has been found in the report that CCTVs of the jail complex were not working at the relevant time, and the jail manual not followed. "We will consider the report on the next date of hearing on April 23," the bench said.

The top court was hearing a PIL filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay seeking a life ban on politicians convicted in criminal cases besides the setting up of special courts to expeditiously try cases involving elected representatives. In the previous hearing, the court was told by Hansaria that there were over 20 heinous cases pending against the former MP and still he had the audacity to kidnap the businessman into the jail.

The Uttar Pradesh administration had recently raided the Deoria jail where Ahmed was lodged after real estate dealer Mohit Jaiswal filed an FIR on December 28, 2018 alleging that he was kidnapped from Lucknow and taken to the prison where he was assaulted by the jailed don and his aides and was forced to transfer his business to them. Lucknow-based realtor Jaiswal had alleged that he was tortured and forced to transfer five of his firms in the names of the former lawmaker and his jailed son.

The combined assets of the firms were worth Rs 45 crore, the FIR said, adding that Ahmed also took away the car of Jaiswal and other belongings before releasing him. Later, the state government ordered shifting of the former MP to Bareilly district jail.

(With inputs from agencies.)