Prayagraj police arrest local resident: ‘Entered building to steal rods’
Days after the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report confirmed the blood samples collected from the partially demolished office of slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed were of a human, Prayagraj police have arrested a 27-year-old man claiming that he had entered the premises in Prayagraj’s Chakia Crossing area on Monday night to steal iron rods but got injured in the process.
Khuldabad police station, Prayagraj, SHO Anurag Sharma said police arrested the accused, Shahrukh, on Thursday on the charges of criminal breach of peace and produced him before a local court which granted him bail. The SHO said that they tracked down the accused, also a resident of Chakia, after scanning footage of CCTVs installed near Atiq’s office. “Shahrukh confessed to having entered the building to steal iron rods,” said the officer.
“The accused said his right hand was injured while cutting iron rods fitted in the walls. As the blood started oozing out of his hand, Shahrukh went to the other portion of the building and found a piece of cloth inside the kitchen. He cleaned the wound with the cloth and then threw it on the stairs,” said a police officer.
Prayagraj Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Deepak Bhuker said when Shahrukh entered Atiq’s office premises on Monday night, his friend stood guard outside the building.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team on Tuesday visited Atiq’s demolish office premises and found blood stains on the stairs and in a room on the first floor, a blood-stained knife and blood-soaked cloth. A Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team collected the blood samples, and their report confirmed that the blood samples were of a human, said police.
A large police contingent has been deployed outside the building, which was demolished in 2020 by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) as it had allegedly been constructed in a bigger area than was approved by the authority. The building plan was approved by the authority in October 2004. Notices were issued to Atiq in 2019, seeking an explanation for the “extra” construction. The PDA said that after due process, it demolished the portion concerned.
Atiq and his younger brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf, both accused in the murder of Umesh Pal and two police gunners, were shot dead at the gate of a government hospital in Prayagraj on April 15. Atiq and Ashraf were on police custody remand and had gone to a hospital for a medical check-up.
