New Delhi: Jailed gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf – both in custody of the Uttar Pradesh Police – were killed late on Saturday, April 15. Two men have been reportedly detained.
The news agency PTI has reported that the murders took place at the Dhoomanganj Police Station in Prayagraj.
Prayagraj Police officials in their first reaction to the killing said that they will be in a position to offer details only after investigating those who have been detained. Dainik Bhaskar has reported that they were “unknown persons.” Unconfirmed reports say three assailants have been arrested. They were killed while being taken for medical examination, it is being reported.
A video on Twitter captures a television channel’s running footage of Atiq and Ashraf speaking to reporters while walking, when shooters come and fire at them both. Viewer discretion is advised. The murders were thus televised fully to TV audiences.
The brothers’ lawyer Vijay Mishra told NDTV that they were being taken for medical examination at around 10 pm with very minimal security arrangement. Mishra pointed out that they were being accompanied by around seven policemen, despite the fact that Atiq being called one of the masterminds of the recent daylight murder of Umesh Pal in Prayagraj.
A Prayagraj-based journalist told The Wire that Atiq and Ashraf were taken for a medical examination to the Motilal Nehru Divisional Hospital in Prayagraj yesterday (April 14) as well but the police security tonight was comparatively weaker than yesterday’s. The journalist added that in Atiq’s last few outings, the security arrangements were considerable, and expressed surprise over the lean police convoy tonight.
Several social media accounts have tweeted what appears to be Atiq and Ashraf’s bloodied corpses.
The Ahmed brothers were killed two days after Uttar Pradesh Police killed Atiq’s son Asad and another man in an “encounter” in Jhansi. Atiq, it has been reported, was not allowed to attend his son’s burial this morning.
The back-to-back killings will likely intensify the political tussle over law and order on one side and the rule of law on the other.
Atiq had earlier approached the Supreme Court, saying that he feared he would be killed in a fake encounter, like Vikas Dubey was. Lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Atiq was taken into custody by Uttar Pradesh police on April 11 in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Atiq, is a former MP and MLA, and has been associated with various political parties, including the Samajwadi Party and earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party.
Atiq and his aides were accused of kidnapping and torturing Umesh Pal, who was the primary witness in a murder case in which Atiq was allegedly involved, in 2007. Atiq was also named main accused after Pal and two men assigned as his security detail were murdered earlier this year.
He was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by an MP-MLA court in an abduction case last month.
Earlier, two of Atiq’s alleged aides, accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, were killed in separate encounters by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
The brothers’ murder in police custody by assailants will likely create much political flutter in the days to come.
Only today, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that only Adityanath government was being selective in targeting alleged criminals and said that no action was being taken against Rajput community criminals as they belonged to the same caste group as the CM. Yadav also released a list of alleged Rajput community criminals who have remained free.
Akhilesh Yadav tweeted in the aftermath of the news of the murders breaking and said that a shootout in the presence of police bandobast only reflects the failing law and order situation in UP.
उप्र में अपराध की पराकाष्ठा हो गयी है और अपराधियों के हौसले बुलंद है। जब पुलिस के सुरक्षा घेरे के बीच सरेआम गोलीबारी करके किसीकी हत्या की जा सकती है तो आम जनता की सुरक्षा का क्या। इससे जनता के बीच भय का वातावरण बन रहा है, ऐसा लगता है कुछ लोग जानबूझकर ऐसा वातावरण बना रहे हैं।
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 15, 2023
Congress’s Jairam Ramesh tweeted soon after news broke and appeared to allege that this was “headline manipulation” by the home minister, without mentioning why.
HM does not stand for Home Minister but really for Headline Manipulator.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 15, 2023
Note: This is a breaking news copy and is being updated as new information comes in.