By Ashish Srivastava: Close aides of gangster Abu Salem in Maharashtra were believed to have arranged shelter for jailed don Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad and shooter Ghulam, who were accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, while they were on the run. Asad and Ghulam were killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on Thursday.

Before their death, Asad and Ghulam were fleeing following the murder of Umesh Pal, a prime witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal case, in February this year. As they were escaping from police, Atiq’s brother Ashraf, who is lodged in a jail in Bareilly, had helped Asad and Ghulam to escape to Maharashtra, where they received help from gangster Abu Salem’s close aides, who arranged for a place where they could hide.

According to Uttar Pradesh Police sources, a politician from Delhi had also helped Asad in getting shelter in the capital.

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Surprisingly, even though Ashraf was in jail, he had access to FaceTime and WhatsApp, through which he used to keep in contact with Asad, Ghulam and the shooters.

According to police sources, Atiq went all out to save his son Asad from being captured. Following Umesh Pal’s murder, Asad and Ghulam first went from Prayagraj to Kanpur. After that, they reached Noida by bus. Asad had earlier stayed in Noida during his studies. But fearing that the Uttar Pradesh STF could reach there, he fled to Delhi. It is being said that a politician had made arrangements for his stay in Delhi’s Sangam Vihar area.

SHAISTA PARVEEN SENT MONEY TO ASAD, GHULAM

Atiq Ahmed’s wife Shaista Parveen, who is also an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, had sent money to her son Asad and the shooter Ghulam through one Akhlaq, a resident of Meerut. After staying in Delhi, both Asad and Ghulam headed to Ajmer. After that, Ashraf contacted the duo through FaceTime and told them to go to Nashik.

Currently, Shaista Parveen is absconding and the Uttar Pradesh Police recently doubled the reward from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for her arrest.

ASAD, GHULAM CRISS-CROSS BETWEEN MAHARASHTRA, DELHI, JHANSI

From Nashik, Asad and Ghulam reached Pune, where Abu Salem’s close friends made arrangements for their stay. After this, the Maharashtra Police started searching for them. Asad and Ghulam then returned to Delhi for sometime. Later, the duo visited Jhansi and stayed at the house of Guddu Muslim, who is another accused in the Umesh Pal murder case. The house is situated near a power plant built on Pariccha dam. Guddu Muslim is still absconding.

MORE ON ASAD’S ENCOUNTER, OTHERS ON POLICE WATCH

Asad and Ghulam were killed by a 12-member STF team of the Uttar Pradesh Police. The STF team tried to capture the two wanted criminals alive, revealed an FIR, which was exclusively accessed by India Today. The FIR said the accused had hurled abuses at the police team and fired at them, before they were killed in “retaliatory firing”.

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Search is on for three shooters — Armaan, Guddu Muslim and Sabbir. Earlier, the police had killed two shooters — Arbaaz and Vijay Chaudhary alias Usman — in an encounter.