Prayagraj: The three shooters arrested for killing brothers Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf include a hardened criminal, and one who identifies himself as the district co-security head of the Bajrang Dal in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda — a claim denied by the right-wing outfit.
According to the police, assailants Banda resident Lavlesh Tiwari (22) and Hamirpur native Mohit alias Sunny Singh (23) have seen the inside of a jail cell at some point in time, while the third, Kasganj native Arun Maurya (18), has no prior criminal history.
Sunny has 14 cases against him in his native district, according to police records, while Lavlesh is a ‘drug addict’ whose family has given up on him. Maurya, on the other hand, is the son of a golgappa seller.
A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against the trio Sunday under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act. ThePrint has a copy of the FIR, which is in Hindi.
In the FIR, Dhoomanganj station house officer (SHO) Rajesh Maurya has alleged that when Atiq and Ashraf were moving towards of the main entrance of the Moti Lal Nehru divisional hospital in Prayagraj, two persons, who were holding mic and camera respectively, threw their equipment and opened fire at the brothers. At the same time, a third person individual standing among media persons, fired at the duo.
“By the time anyone could understand anything, the accused, who pretended to be media persons, shot Atiq and Ashraf dead,” it read.
Police, however, are yet to clarify from where the three men acquired the firearms they used in the fatal attack, including a semi-automatic and an automatic pistol.
Also read: ‘It was over in 30 seconds’ — eyewitnesses recall fatal attack on Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf in Prayagraj
‘Drug addict’ Lavlesh Tiwari
Lavlesh Tiwari, pursued a Bachelor of Arts (BA) course from a private college in Lucknow but failed to clear his first-year exams. He identifies himself as the district co-security head of the Bajrang Dal on his Facebook profile.
However, the right-wing outfit has denied any links with Tiwari. Acharya Ajit Raj, convenor of the Kanpur prant (region) of the Bajrang Dal, told ThePrint that Lavlesh’s claim was false and he holds no post in the outfit. “Anyone can write anything on social media,” he said.
Third among four sons of Yagya Tiwari and Asha Tiwari, Lavlesh was a ‘drug addict’ and was jailed for slapping a woman two years back, his parents told media persons in Banda Sunday.
Asked about the murder, and his son’s alleged involvement, Yagya said they neither had any information (about the attack) nor any links with Lavlesh.
“He doesn’t stay with us. He came home seven-eight days back. Whenever he came, he would not engage with anyone and wouldn’t stay for long. You can ask everyone…we were not on talking terms ever since he slapped a woman and a case was lodged against him. He was in jail and came out on bail about one-and-half-year back. He is a drug addict, which is why he has been renounced by everyone in the family,” said the father.
Yagya added that he got to know about his son’s alleged involvement in the attack on gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed through television news.
News agency ANI quoted Lavlesh’s mother Asha as saying that her son was a Hanuman devotee who frequented the local temple and would not even drink his morning tea without having a darshan of the deity. She added that he would offer prayers regularly and sing bhajans, adding, “Don’t know what is in his fate. He always put others above himself.”
History-sheeter Sunny Singh
Hamirpur native Mohit alias Sunny Singh has a long rap sheet with the earliest case against him in the district dating back to 2016, ThePrint has learnt. He is identified as history-sheeter 281-A in Hamirpur police records which show that Singh has 14 cases lodged against him in the district’s Kurara police station.
Cases against him include four lodged under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, two cases of attempt to murder and one case each of extortion, Gangster Act, and Goonda Act.
Police sources told ThePrint that Sunny entered the world of crime after his parents died and had not visited his family home in the last several years.
Arun Maurya: Son of golgappa seller
The third assailant in the case, Arun Maurya, is a resident of Kasganj’s Katarwadi village under Soron police station limits. A police team reached his village Sunday.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kasganj Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jitendra Dubey said they had not found any criminal record tied to Arun in that district.
The eldest among three children, Arun is the son of a golgappa seller named Deepak Kumar, a police officer stationed in Kasganj told ThePrint.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: ‘Totally reduced to dust’: Atiq Ahmed on his life — from a dreaded gangster to MP, and then in jail