New Delhi/Lucknow | The Income-tax department has attached half-a-dozen land parcels in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district, being held by a BPL card holder security guard, as part of its action against slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad whose family and gang is considered beneficiary of several "benami" properties worth crores of rupees.

This is the first action undertaken by the department's benami prohibition unit (BPU) located in state capital Lucknow against Atiq Ahmad's empire as part of a comprehensive investigation under the anti-benami law against his family and gang members.

It was detected by the I-T authorities that a number of such lands and other immovable assets were held by people with "very limited means" and the funds being generated through these sales were purportedly being channelised for the requirement of Ahmad's family even after his death, official sources said.