In 2004, slain mafia Atiq Ahmed said his prophetic words during his campaign trail for the Lok Sabha election, which he had successfully contested from Phulpur constituency, “Encounter hoga. Ya police maari, ya koi apni biradari ka sarfira. Sadak ke kinare pade milab ((I will be killed in an encounter by either police or someone from the criminals’ tribe).

During his political period, the gangster-turned-politician Atiq used to talk candidly to local journalists in informal settings at regular intervals, as a neta, who won assembly elections from Allahabad City West constituency five times.

In one of the meetings with select scribes, when he takes a jibe on how he foresees his final end since he is a criminal too, he has admitted candidly about his intuition.

He had also philosophized, “Sab ko pata hota hai anjaam kya hona hai. Kab tak taala ja sakta hai, yeh sab (contesting election) iski hi jaddojahad hai (We all know, as criminals, what will be our fate. Every day is a struggle to escape this ordeal, and delay the inevitable).”

While being reminded that he was contesting election from a place (Phulpur parliamentary seat), which was once represented by India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, the mafia had replied, “Pandit ji ki tarah hum Naini jail me bhi rahe hain. Woh kitab likhe wahan, hume apni historysheet ki wajah se jana pada tha (Like Nehru, I have also been to Naini jail. He wrote books there, I went because of my history sheet).

Also Read: “Wanted To Be Famous,” Atiq’s Killers Told Police, Families Revealed They Were Not In Touch