LUCKNOW, April 16 -- Three years after gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf were gunned down in police custody in Prayagraj on April 15, 2023, UP Police are still chasing one of the biggest loose ends of the case - the continued disappearance of three women from the slain mafia family, all named in the conspiracy behind the Umesh Pal murder.

Atiq's wife Shaista Parveen, his sister Ayesha Noori and Ashraf's wife Zainab Fatima have remained off the police radar since the February 2023 murder of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police gunners, becoming some of the most wanted accused in one of the state's most high-profile criminal probes.

Despite more than 500 raids across nine states, sustained surve...