UP STF arrests Atiq Ahmad gang member Abdul Samad from Delhi

The Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force on Thursday arrested Abdul Samad, an active member of the Atiq Ahmad gang, in Delhi when he went there to meet his girlfriend, police said.

Saddam, the brother-in-law of Atiq's brother Ashraf Ahmed, was carrying a Rs 1 lakh reward on his arrest, they said.

Special DG, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said Saddam was arrested around 2 am from a DDA flat opposite the Select City Walk mall in Delhi's Malviya Nagar when he went there to meet his girlfriend.

Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on April 15 while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup.

It is alleged that Saddam used to facilitate meetings of people with Ashraf in Bareilly jail where he was lodged.

After the murder of Umesh Pal, the key witness in the 2005 killing of BSP MLA Raju Pal, outside his home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj on February 24, an FIR was filed against Saddam, Ashraf, jail officials and others on charges of conspiracy, extortion and giving protection to criminals, among others.

During interrogation, Saddam told STF that he had been hiding at several places in Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra to evade arrest. He used to live at Khusbhu Enclave in Bareilly when his brother-in-law Ashraf was lodged in Bareilly jail, a police official said.