Shaista Parveen is now a fugitive from law with a cash reward of Rs 50,000 on her head in the Umesh Pal case. (News18 File)
Named as an accused in Umesh Pal murder case, Shaista has been on the run since the February 24 murder
In an effort to arrest Shaista Parveen, widow of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, the Uttar Pradesh Police and the Special Task Force (STF) raided several locations in Delhi and Lucknow on Friday. The raids in Delhi were conducted based on inputs that Shaista was in touch with a lawyer in the national capital.
Police raided several places in Delhi Karol Bagh and Jamia Nagar area. As per sources, Atiq Ahmed had several properties in the area.
“The neighbours were also questioned if they had seen any suspected movements in the area. Atiq’s son Asad had spent almost 13 days in Jamia Nagar while he was on the run after the daylight killing of Umesh Pal,” they said.
Police teams are also carrying out raids in localities and villages of Prayagraj and neighbouring Kaushambhi district, in all known possible hideouts, including the houses of their kin.
The Uttar Pradesh police are raiding all possible hideouts of Shaista, who is now the empress of her husband Atiq’s empire and her son’s associate Guggu Muslim.
Police officials believe that with the murders of Atiq and his younger brother Ashraf, as well as death of Atiq’s son Asad Ahmad in an encounter with the STF in Jhansi on April 13, Shaista remains the only one who could shed more light on the planning and execution of February 24 killings of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police guards.
Named as an accused in Umesh Pal murder case, Shaista has been on the run since the February 24 murder.
She carries a Rs 50,000 reward on her head. Police officials claim that Shaista played a vital part in the conspiracy to eliminate Umesh Pal and has been managing Atiq’s financial affairs since he was jailed.
Shaista did not attend the funerals of her son Asad on April 15 as well as of her husband and brother-in-law held at Kasari Masari graveyard on April 16.
Earlier, there were speculations that Shaista would surrender in front of the police after her husband’s funeral. However, she is still absconding. Locating her is becoming difficult for police, as she’s in mourning after the death of her husband and no one will be allowed to meet her during this time.
As per reports, Shaista was last seen in Prayagraj in a commercial car and the police are also reaching out to the owners of travel agencies to find out if they have any leads.
According to police, Shaista started actively managing her husband’s empire after Atiq went to jail in February 2017. She was even video-recorded walking along with Atiq’s known henchmen in city.
She also started making inroads in political corridors soon after.
Police claim that at the behest of Atiq, she used to collect extortion money from builders and other traders.
She gave the money extorted through such sources to assailants involved in the murder of Umesh Pal and his two police guards.
While conducting raids to nab Shaista post February 24 murders, police even recovered cash worth Rs 72 lakh that she had allegedly given to her servant Rakesh to hide, said a police officer.
Apart from the three cases (dating back to 2009) lodged in connection with procuring weapons illegally, Shaista also has a fourth case registered against her on February 24 at Dhoomanganj police station under relevant sections of IPC which relates to gunning down of mesh Pal and his two police guards in Sulem Sarai locality of Prayagraj.
(With inputs from the News18 reporter Anshul Singh)
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