Prayagraj: A two-storey building of MLA Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari, sons of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, was demolished located in Jahangirabad of Uttar Pradesh on Friday amid heavy police deployment. The action was taken on the orders of the District Magistrate.
The two-storey house was registered in the name of Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari, which was earlier declared illegal by the City Magistrate Court and ordered for demolition. In order to stop the demolition drive, a petition was filed in the High Court by both the sons of Mukhtar Ansari. However, the file related to the case was again sent to the District Magistrate Court Mau. Following District Magistrate's order the demolition took place on Friday.
City Magistrate, Naveen Kumar Singh said that the construction was done without taking the permission from authorities concerned. First, the notice was given to them after that they appealed to the District Magistrate in the case, but the court did not consider their appeal and the District Magistrate's court issued an order for the building demolition.
Meanwhile, authorities began bulldozing the house of a criminal allegedly linked to Atiq Ahmed here on Friday, the third such demolition in three days. Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) officials arrived at the house of Mashookuddin, who has dozens of cases registered against him, in the Puramufti area on Friday afternoon with bulldozers and other heavy-duty earth movers and began pulling down the structure. PDA officials said the house was built illegally. Police and administration officials were present in large numbers as the demolition progressed.
Mashookuddin is said to be closely associated with Atiq Ahmed, who is lodged in a Gujarat prison. This is the third consecutive day of PDA action against "illegal" structures built by people linked to Atiq Ahmed, who has been booked by UP police in connection with the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal and his two security personnel last week.
Following the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath vowed in the assembly that his government would destroy the mafia in the state. On Thursday, a two-storey building in the Dhoomanganj area owned by Safdar Ali, an alleged arms trader linked to Atiq Ahmed, was demolished. A day before that, the house of Zafar Ahmed, another alleged aide of Atiq Ahmed, was demolished in the city.
Arbaaz, an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, was killed in an encounter with police on Monday. Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, his wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Gulam and nine others.
On Wednesday, Atiq Ahmed, 61, moved the Supreme Court for protection claiming that he and his family have been falsely "roped in" the case and that he may be killed in a fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police. In his plea, he also referred to Adityanath's statement in the assembly and claimed there is a "genuine and perceptible threat" to his and his family members' lives.
He has sought directions from the Centre, the state government and others to protect his life against the "open, direct and immediate threat" from high state functionaries of Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Adityanath has often spoken about the actions taken by his government to improve law and order in the state, including frequent reference to bulldozers to raze illegal property of criminals and the mafia. (With PTI Inputs)
