IN NOVEMBER 2004, Prayagraj, then known as Allahabad, witnessed unusual events that would culminate in a bloody end to a chapter of the political-criminal nexus in Uttar Pradesh. Atique Ahmed’s younger brother, Khalid Azim, better known as Ashraf, lost an election from the Allahabad (West) assembly seat. It was a seat from which Ahmed had won five times—thrice as an independent and once each on Samajwadi Party and Apna Dal tickets. He had vacated the seat only on becoming Phulpur MP.
Ashraf was devastated by the loss and cried on his elder brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I will get you elected from the same seat soon,” police records quote Ahmed as telling his younger brother. In January 2005, Raju Pal, the Bahujan Samaj Party MLA who had humbled Ashraf in the polls, was killed in broad daylight on a busy street. Pal, who had tied the knot just days earlier, ran for his life, but was cornered and shot by Ashraf and his men, according to witness statements. In the byelection necessitated by Pal’s murder, Ashraf defeated Pooja, Pal’s young widow. Ahmed had kept his promise.
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