Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Prayagraj Saturday night while in police custody. The duo were being taken for a medical examination to the Prayagraj Medical College when three men opened fire at them. The Uttar Pradesh Police have taken the three individuals who opened fire at Atiq and Ashraf into custody.
Ahmed (60), a five-term MLA from Allahabad West and one-term MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Phulpur district, was sent to four-day police custody by the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Prayagraj Thursday.
In March, Atiq was convicted in an abduction case dating back to 2007 and sentenced to life imprisonment. This was the first conviction handed down to the former Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator who is an accused in at least 130 cases ranging from murder to extortion, and one in which he was booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
The fatal attack on Atiq came days after his son Asad and his accomplice Ghulam were killed in a ‘police encounter’ in Jhansi. Both were named as accused in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, who was shot dead in broad daylight outside his home in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj area on February 24 this year.
Also Read: ‘Totally reduced to dust’: Atiq Ahmed on his life — from a dreaded gangster to MP, and then in jail
Highlights:
8:30 pm: Both brothers buried at Kasari Masari, Prayagraj amid heavy police deployment.
8:00 pm: Minor sons of Atiq Ahmed escorted from a juvenile facility to the Kasari Masari burial cemetery, news agency ANI reported.
Prayagraj: Minor sons of gangster Atiq Ahmed were brought to Kasari Masari burial ground from a juvenile home. pic.twitter.com/DptWSRcFtc
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 16, 2023
7:00 pm: Bodies arrive at the graveyard for burial after post-mortem.
6:45 pm: Bodies of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf handed over to family.
6:30 pm: ACP Anoop Singh tells ThePrint that there is no cap on people attending the burial. “There is no cap on people attending, but we need to understand that the matter is sensitive. So we are checking everyone.”
6:00 pm: Alleged shooter Lovelesh Tiwari’s father Yagya Tiwari claims having no knowledge about son’s involvement or whereabouts. Reacting to the news of Lovelesh attacking Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, the father adds that they “don’t mean anything to him” and that he’s a “drug addict”.
5:40 pm: A three-member judicial inquiry commission investigating the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, will submit its report to the UP government within two months. Headed by Justice (Retd) Arvind Kumar Tripathi of the Allahabad HC, the panel will also comprise IPS officer (Retd) Subesh Kumar Singh and district judge (Retd) Brijesh Kumar Soni.
3:25 pm Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said “BJP has turned India into a mafia republic”, calling the incident ‘the death of the rule of law’. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also express her shock on ‘the brazen anarchy and total collapse of law & order in Uttar Pradesh’
BJP has turned India into a mafia republic.
I will say it here, I will say it abroad, I will say it everywhere because it is the truth.
2 men in custody shot dead in front of a zillion policemen & cameras – this is the death of the rule of law.
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) April 16, 2023
I am shocked by the brazen anarchy and total collapse of law & order in Uttar Pradesh.
It is shameful that perpetrators are now taking the law in their own hands, unfazed by the police and media presence.
Such unlawful acts have no place in our constitutional democracy.
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) April 16, 2023
3:10 pm Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and brother Ashraf’s bodies were brought to mortuary at SRN hospital but was sent back to Motilal Nehru Divisional hospital for autopsy & x-ray to trace bullets in the body. Atiq’s father-in-law Harun Ahmad was brought to the mortuary by police for claiming the body.
2:55 pm Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that if incident took place despite the presence of UP police, then it is a ‘serious matter’ and ‘raises a big question on law & order’.
#WATCH | A murder happened & sec 144 was imposed, the govt there (UP) did it. But if this incident took place despite the presence of (UP) police, then it is a serious matter. This raises a big question on law & order: Uddhav Thackeray faction leader, Sanjay Raut on the killing… pic.twitter.com/fCD5mgjink
— ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2023
2:40 pm According to the FIR registered in the case, accessed by ThePrint, Atiq Ahmed had given a statement admitting to his links with Pakistan’s ISI and terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“In a statement Atiq had said that he had links with LeT and ISI. He said that an arms dealer who also arranges weapons for LeT supplied him weapons that came via drones from across the border. These included a 45 bore pistol, an AK 47, sten gun, RDX that came via Punjab border,” the FIR says.
Also read: ‘Unemployed, tried to kill Atiq & brother before’ — what we know so far about assailants
2:25 pm Ram Gopal Yadav, Samajwadi Party MP, calls Atiq Ahmed killing ‘cold-blooded murder as per a planned conspiracy’
“This is a path that leads to the end of democracy. As per rumours going around in Allahabad, Atiq’s other four children will also be killed”, he told ANI.
#WATCH | “It is a cold-blooded murder as per a planned conspiracy. If the probe agency involved in this case is sincere, then the involvement of a lot of people will be uncovered. This type of incident has never happened before in UP. This is a path that leads to the end of… pic.twitter.com/sSEowJ8Lwf
— ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2023
2:10 pm Union Ministry of Home Affairs will issue detailed guidelines and standard operating procedures (SoPs) for the safety and security of media personnel while covering any spot or press conference. These guidelines are to be issued in the next few days and will put up a mechanism for the journalists, to follow certain norms during their coverage, according to The Indian Express.
2:00 pm UP CM Yogi Adityanath chairs high profile meeting with Additional Chief Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi, CM advisor Awanish Kumar Awasthi, DGP Rajkumar Vishwakarma, among others.
1:45 pm Raids continue at several locations in Prayagraj, including a lodge near the local railway station where the three accused are suspected to have stayed. The lodge manager along with two employees have been taken into custody.
Also read: Atiq & Ashraf’s shooters used ‘Turkish-made pistols, may have been hired by powerful gang’
12:45 pm Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) accuses Yogi government of ‘encounter killings, bulldozer politics & patronising criminals’.
Jungle Raj under BJP Yogi govt in UP.
It’s USP: Encounter killings, Bulldozer politics & patronising criminals.
Enforce rule of law; apprehend perpetrators & punish them stringently.https://t.co/jesSAgTuMA
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) April 15, 2023
12:15 pm One of the accused, Lovlesh Tiwari from Banda was associated with Bajrang Dal earlier, says his estranged family. According to a source in the UP police, the other accused, Arun Maurya had a murder charge against him while Sunny Singh was disconnected from his family long time ago.
11:30 am The three shooters posed as journalists and used two sophisticated ‘made in Turkey’ weapons—a Zigana F (automatic) and Girsan 9MM parabellum (Regard MC) pistol, along with a country made 30 bore pistol—to execute the killing, ThePrint has learnt.
This indicates that the men were hired by a big gang to carry out the assassination, a source in the UP police said.
10:30 am A five-member panel of doctors has been formed to conduct the post mortem on Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf.
Also read: ‘It was over in 30 seconds’ — eyewitnesses recall fatal attack on Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf in Prayagraj
09:50 am Police interrogation reveals the accused were staying in a hotel in Prayagraj for the past 48 hours. The police are currently investigating the hotel and raids have been underway since morning.
09:40 am According to Prayagraj police, the three accused have a history of past criminal offenses. During the interrogation, the accused stated that they wanted to become big mafias and thus carried out the murders. However, the police are not entirely relying on these statements yet, as their statements contradict each other.
9:20 am As per senior UP police officials the three attackers have been indentified as Arun Maurya of Kasganj, Lovlesh Tiwari of Banda and Rohit alias Sunny Singh of Hamirpur. Three pistols have also been recovered from them.
9:00 am Internet services suspended in Prayagraj.
8:30 am Reacting to the incident, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) cheif Assaduddin Owaisi said, “Atiq and his brother were in police custody. He was handcuffed. JSR slogans were also raised. The killing of both is the failure of Yogi’s law and order system. Those celebrating encounter raj are also responsible for this murder.”
He also demanded that CM Adityanath and all police officers present must resign.
अतीक़ और उनके भाई पुलिस की हिरासत में थे। उन पर हथकड़ियाँ लगी हुई थीं। JSR के नारे भी लगाये गये। दोनों की हत्या योगी के क़ानून व्यवस्था की नाकामी है। एनकाउंटर राज का जश्न मनाने वाले भी इस हत्या के ज़िम्मेदार हैं।
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) April 15, 2023
7:45 am UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a late-night meeting in Lucknow where he instructed state police officers to be on high alert and ensure law and order are maintained across the state.
“CM has also appealed to people not to pay any attention to rumours. Strict action will be taken against those who spread rumours”, according to the Chief Minister office’s statement.
2:10 am: Meanwhile, BJP MP Subrat Pathak called for a “thorough probe” into the attack on Atiq. Taking to Twitter, he said, “There must be a thorough probe on murder of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf…..strict action will be taken against the murderers.”
1:50 am: Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal too took to social media to condemn the killings. He wrote on Twitter, “Two murders in UP: 1) Atiq Ahmed and brother Ashraf 2) Rule of law.”
1:45 am: “When someone can be killed by firing openly amidst the security cordon of the police, then what about the safety of the general public,” asked Akhilesh Yadav.’
Also Read: ‘Pure anarchy, murder of rule of law’: Politicians condemn killings of Atiq Ahmed, his brother
1:30 am: Teams of the UP Police armed constabulary and Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been deployed in and around the Prayagraj Medical College where Atiq Ahmed and his brother were shot dead.
1:15 am: Prohibitory orders under section 144, CrPC have been issued for all 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh following the fatal attack on Atiq Ahmed.
01:00 am: Addressing the media, Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma said police are in the process of interrogating the three individuals who were arrested from the scene of the crime. Sharma said a preliminary investigation has led the police to believe that the three men who shot Atiq and Ashraf posed as media persons to infiltrate the police cordon.
He added that a reporter affiliated with news agency ANI and a police constable were also injured in the shooting.
Also Read: ‘Nahi le gaye toh nahi gaye’: Atiq Ahmed’s last words before being shot dead in Prayagraj
12:45 am: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called a high-level meeting in Lucknow to discuss the security lapse that led to the killing of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in full public view. According to news agency ANI, the UP CM has also ordered the formation of a three-member judicial inquiry commission to probe the matter.
12:30 am: Section 144 of the CrPC, prohibiting the assembly of more than four people in one place, has been imposed in Prayagraj in light of the fatal attack on Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf.
Also Read: ‘No dust marks, empty pistol’: Retd IPS seeks NHRC probe into Asad-Ghulam ‘encounter’ by UP STF