'Gangsters wetting their pants': Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath speaks out on law and order

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath recently addressed a gathering at the 'bhoomi pujan' of a bottling plant, where he claimed that gangsters who once terrorised people with extortion threats and abductions are now running scared and wetting their pants after being sentenced by the courts.  

According to Adityanath, the law and order situation in the state has improved significantly, and the people who previously showed no respect for the law are now afraid of being brought to justice.

"When the court sentences them, their wet pants are becoming visible. People are seeing it. The mafia used to terrorise people, send extortion threats to industrialists, abduct businessmen. But today they are out of their wits (scared) and running for their lives," he said.

Adityanath's remarks came shortly after gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case. This was Ahmad's first conviction despite having over 100 cases registered against him.

The former Samajwadi Party MP was brought from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat for the hearing in Prayagraj. Ahmad expressed fear of being killed before leaving the jail in a police cavalcade. During the journey, Ahmad's vehicle was stopped in the Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh to allow him to attend nature's call, where he told reporters that he was not afraid.

After Umesh Pal, a witness in the murder of BSP legislator Raju Pal in January 2005, was killed in broad daylight in Prayagraj, the authorities initiated a crackdown on Ahmad's associates and gang members. Adityanath had vowed to destroy the mafia in the state assembly after the incident.

In another case, a special court in Lucknow recently framed charges against Ahmad, his son Umar, and 15 others for the kidnapping of businessman Mohit Jaiswal in 2018. The prosecution alleged that Ahmad, despite being in jail, orchestrated the kidnapping and got Jaiswal assaulted. He obtained Jaiswal's signature on a blank paper and seized his property worth Rs 45 crore.