Prayagraj: Police find bloodstains, knife at slain Atiq Ahmed's office

The police in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj reportedly found bloodstains inside the partly demolished office of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed on Monday. As per reports, bloodstains were found splattered on the stairways and also on a piece of white cloth on a sofa inside the office in Prayagraj's Chakia area. However, it is still not clear whose bloodstains they were.

• The development comes nearly 10 days after three men shot Atiq and his brother Ashraf Ahmed dead on April 15 outside a Prayagraj medical college in front of the media and police personnel.
• Notably, they were accused in the high-profile Umesh Pal murder case.
• While the state government pledged to oust mafias from UP, it is facing criticism over allegations of a staged murder.

Providing an update on the incident concerning Atiq's office, Prayagraj Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Satyendra Prasad Tiwari told ANI, "I have examined [it] myself; bloodstains [were] found near the staircase and next to the kitchen." Adding that a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team was on its way to the spot, he said, "An investigation will be done, CCTV footage will be examined."

Separately, on Wednesday, CM Yogi Adityanath-led UP government suspended five police officers for dereliction of duty after the death of Atiq and Ashraf in police custody. To recall, on April 15, three individuals reportedly posing as reporters shot the Ahmed brothers dead from close range while they were speaking to the media. However, the police at the spot apprehended the shooters after the incident.

According to the postmortem report, Atiq was shot eight times in the chest and back and once in the head. On the other hand, Ashraf's body had five gunshot injuries: one on the face and four on his back. The entire post-mortem, which was reportedly conducted by a team of five doctors, was also videotaped to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

On Thursday, a judicial committee formed by the UP government visited Prayagraj as part of its probe. Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the forensic team investigating the murder recreated the crime scene where the Ahmed brothers were shot dead from point-blank range. Furthermore, a police team visited the hotel where the three killers had stayed before the killing for further investigation.