Incarcerated mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed allegedly assaulted a Lucknow-based businessman in Deoria jail after getting him abducted and forced him to sign away property worth Rs 40 crore, following which the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday ordered that he be shifted to high-security Bareilly jail.
As the alleged incident left it red-faced, the state government also initiated disciplinary proceedings against Deoria jail superintendent Dilip Kumar Pandey and jailor Mukesh Kumar Katiyar, besides suspending several others.
A government order issued by the prisons department (Prisons Administration and Reform Services, UP) said, "Approval has been given for shifting undertrial Atiq Ahmed, who is currently lodged in Deoria district jail, to Bareilly district jail on administrative grounds."
The jailor said, "Jaiswal had come to meet Atiq Ahmed on December 26. The meeting took place as per the jail rules. I have no information on whether he was abducted and forced to come here or assaulted. He didn't tell anyone about it while leaving."
When contacted, District Magistrate of Deoria Amit Kishore said, "Police searched all the barracks. It seems that the CCTV recording has been tampered with... Some parts of the footage are missing. We have taken cognizance of it."