Atiq Ahmed grabbed property of Sonia Gandhi’s relative in Prayagraj in 2007

The mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed’s 40-year reign of terror obtained right here to an end on April 15, 2023, when he and his brother Ashraf have been shot lifeless by three attackers posing as journalists. Although there are fairly a couple of tales of Ahmed’s wrath and terror, there was a time when he and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi have been at loggerheads.

It is believed for a undeniable fact that Atiq Ahmed had over 100 FIRs lodged in opposition to him, for quite a few authorized offences. Atiq Ahmed emerged as a result of the kingpin of extortion and land-grabbing syndicate in Prayagraj. 

In 2007, sixteen years previously, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in vitality inside the Centre, mafia Atiq Ahmed unlawfully grabbed property in Prayagraj belonging to a Gandhi family relative named Veera Gandhi. The nephew of Sonia Gandhi’s father-in-law and Rajiv Gandhi’s father Feroze Gandhi’s brother-in-law is married to Veera Gandhi. Ahmed was then a member of parliament from the Phulpur constituency and a pacesetter of the Samajwadi Party, which dominated Uttar Pradesh in the meanwhile.

Ahmed was eyeing the Palace Theatre property belonging to Veera Gandhi’s family in Prayagraj’s posh Civil Lines area for pretty some time. He had his brokers seize the Gandhi family dwelling and arrange their very personal locks on the gates after shopping for the neighbouring property from one Asthana family. It is alleged that Veera Gandhi purchased a property behind the Palace Theatre in the midst of the partition of family property. 

Atiq Ahmed’s reign of terror on the time was so profound that even the native police and state authorities officers refused to intervene or help Veera Gandhi. Eventually, Veera Gandhi spoke with Sonia Gandhi, who subsequently notified Manmohan Singh, the then-Prime Minister regarding the scenario.

The PMO went into movement and issued orders to all prime officers inside the state to resolve he matter. On the other hand, Sonia Gandhi requested Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who now may very well be a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party and MP from Prayagraj nonetheless was a extremely efficient Congress chief from Prayagraj in the meanwhile, to take care of the issue. Joshi then spoke to the state officers and the matter was sorted.

Atiq Ahmed made the selection to go away the property and return it to its householders after learning that his acts had offended Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister’s Office. Later on, Veera Gandhi supplied a number of her properties in Prayagraj and moved to Mumbai.

Speaking to TOI regarding the incident, Rita Bahuguna Joshi acknowledged that Sonia Gandhi definitely known as her to intervene inside the matter, following which she spoke to the district administration officers, and finally Atiq Ahmed pulled once more in that case. 

“Atiq was extremely greedy when it came to real estate. He had grabbed several properties in the city but had to pull back in the case of Veera Gandhi,” acknowledged former IG Lalji Shukla, who was the SP City in Prayagraj in 2001-03.

It is alleged that the gangster was happy with the charges in opposition to him. As an SP candidate for the Shrawasti constituency inside the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which he misplaced to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Daddan Mishra, he boasted that he has 188 wonderful situations in opposition to him and has spent half of his life behind bars. Atiq Ahmed declared that he would go to any extremes for his supporters, regardless of the implications. He had no fear of the regulation in the midst of the SP and BSP governments inside the state. Atiq Ahmed was the first one which was booked beneath the ‘Gangster Act’ in Uttar Pradesh.