UP cops to move court for narco test of Atiq Ahmad killers

LUCKNOW/PRAYAGRAJ: Almost eight days after the sensational murder of don-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf and arrest of three accused, Mohit Singh alias Shani, Lavlesh Tiwari and Arun Maurya, police are planning to move court to seek lie detector and narco tests on the accused.
Meanwhile, the three accused were sent back to Pratapgarh jail after their police custody ended on Sunday. On April 19, the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Prayagraj had given police custody to the special investigation team (SIT) for four days.
The SIT questioned the trio to collect all possible evidence related to the killing of Atiq and Ashraf.
Senior police officials privy to the probe said that the test is important, in order to find out the motive of the crime as they have been repeatedly saying that they shot the brothers as they wanted to become "famous".
Sources said that the three accused have also not clearly explained who provided them arms or the contract to kill, and how they reached Prayagraj and why they chose the two gangsters.
Police officials said that the three were questioned separately by different teams and then brought together, but interrogators have not got anything concrete. The three also did not divulge details about their training and procurement of arms and ammunition.
Sources added that only Shani of the three has divulged that he got Zigana pistol from Jitender Mann Gogi, the gangster who was killed in Delhi courtroom attack in December 2021. Shani told the interrogators that he met Gogi, a history-sheeter criminal with 19 cases against him, in May 2021 and got arms from him.
Shani had also told police that the three arrived in Prayagraj on April 13 and stayed in a hotel near the railway station. They tried their first strike on April 14 itself when the two were taken to CJM court for remand but failed due to security measures.
The trio later gunned down Ahmed brothers on April 15 night when they were being taken to Colvin Hospital in Prayagraj for medical examination as a mandatory legal requirement.
The three assailants, posing as journalists, shot Atiq and Ashraf from point-blank range in full camera view in the presence of policemen.
The shooters immediately surrendered and were arrested by the police.