AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi denied permission to meet ex-MP Atiq Ahmad in Sabarmati jail

Ahmedabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi was on Monday denied permission by authorities here to meet former Uttar Pradesh MP Atiq Ahmad, who is lodged at the Ahmedabad-based Sabarmati Central Jail, in the wake of COVID-19 guidelines and other reasons, a party leader said. Owaisi is on a day-long visit to Ahmedabad to meet party workers, office bearers and supporters. He had also planned to meet Ahmad, the jailed gangster who recently joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). “The Sabarmati jail authorities denied permission to Owaisi to meet Atiq Ahmad on the ground of COVID-19 protocols and also since he is not Ahmad’s blood relative,” AIMIM Gujarat president Sabir Kabliwala said. The AIMIM had sought permission from jail authorities for a meeting between Owaisi and Ahmad in the jail premises, but it was denied at last moment, he said. Ahmad, who has several criminal cases lodged against him, was in June 2019 transferred to the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail here from the UP’s Naini jail, where he was lodged for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a businessman, on directions of the Supreme Court. Owaisi’s party had forayed into Gujarat politics with local body polls earlier this year and plans to field its candidates in state Assembly elections due next year. Earlier this month, Ahmad’s wife Shaista Praveen joined the AIMIM at a press conference in Lucknow, while the jailed former MP joined the Owaisi-led party party in absentia. Ahmad was previously associated with various political parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Apna Dal (Sonewal faction).