New Delhi: The three shooters who killed gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf while in police custody late Saturday used two sophisticated ‘Made in Turkey’ weapons along with a country made 30 bore pistol for the crime, ThePrint has learnt.
A source in the UP Police said that the use of a Zigana F (automatic) and a Girsan 9MM parabellum (Regard MC) pistol indicates that the men were hired by a big gang to carry out the assassination.
“These are not some dreaded gangsters but small-time criminals who could not have had access to these weapons. It is certain that they were engaged by a gang and asked to carry out the killings. They were also provided with these weapons and we are questioning them on their links,” he said.
According to the source, the three men, Lovlesh Tiwari, Arun Maurya and Sunny Singh, are small-time criminals and are aged between 17 and 20 years. While Maurya is a resident of Kasganj, Lovlesh is from Banda and Rohit is from Hamirpur, UP.
One of the shooters has a murder case against him and another has a case of eve teasing. The police are still in the process of digging out the criminal history of the shooters and their past involvements, the source said.
‘Checked into a hotel 48 hours before murder’
The source added that the two Turkish-made automatic pistols are very popular among organised gangs. They are smuggled, not very expensive and easy to handle. They can fire around 15 bullets in one go.
According to the police source, the three men came close to Atiq as a press crew before whipping out their pistols.
“While one person was holding a camera, the other was posing as a journalist with a mic. He had a label of NCR news on it. The third person was just assisting them,” the source said.
A senior police officer told ThePrint that a constable and one of the shooters were also injured in the incident.
“One policeman and a shooter have also sustained bullet wounds and are being treated at a hospital. We will take their statements once they are fit to give one,” the officer said. “We have registered a case of murder and the probe is on,” he added.
The source said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the trio “had checked into a hotel in Prayagraj 48 hours before the crime, and that is being searched”.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: ‘Nahi le gaye toh nahi gaye’: Atiq Ahmed’s last words before being shot dead in Prayagraj