Three men, who allegedly helped the shooters of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, have been detained by the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh police. Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists on Saturday night.
The three men are friends of the main accused Lavlesh Tiwari and were detained from the railway station in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda by the SIT team probing the case, police said on Thursday.
They worked for a local news website and gave “media training" to Tiwari. The three men also helped him buy a camera, the police said.
Police also conducted raids in the search for Atiq Ahmed’s wife Shaista Parveen, in Kaushambi on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, five police personnel were suspended on Wednesday for negligence in connection with the killing of mafia-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, a senior officer said here on Wednesday. Shahganj police station in-charge Ashwani Kumar Singh was among those suspended. The remaining are a sub-inspector and three constables.
The senior police officer said the five personnel were suspended after a special investigation team (SIT) charged them with negligence in discharging their duties.
Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night when police personnel were escorting them to a hospital in the Shahganj police station area in Prayagraj for a checkup.
The brothers were in handcuffs when they were killed in full view of camera crews.
The three assailants of Atiq and Ashraf- Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur, Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj — are presently in Pratapgarh jail.
All three attackers surrendered after shooting more than 20 times at Ahmed and his brother.
Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader’s murder, in February this year.
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