Atiq Ahmed’s Killers Came on Bike, Posed as Journalists & Opened Fire on Him from Point Blank Range

Three assailants posing as journalists, carrying a video camera and microphone, fired at gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf from close range, resulting in their deaths late on Saturday. The incident took place when the brothers, in handcuffs amid police cover, went to a hospital for a medical check-up in Prayagraj.

The killings left many shocked as they happened in full media glare and were captured live; this comes just two days after Atiq’s son Asad Ahmed was gunned down in a police encounter in Jhansi and was buried in his native village on Saturday. Atiq, Ashraf and Asad were the prime accused in lawyer Umesh Pal’s murder case.

With this, the opposition has launched an attack on the Yogi Adityanath-led government over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. The chief minister held a high-level review meeting and ordered a three-member judicial commission of inquiry into the incident.

The killings raise questions on the UP Police and over whether the security detail for the brothers was strong enough at the time they were brought for a medical examination late at night. They were in police custody and being interrogated in the Umesh Pal case. Armed police personnel did not open fire at the three assailants, who quickly surrendered within seconds of killing the handcuffed pair. The brothers were speaking to journalists when the assailants emerged and shot at them several times.

It also raises questions on why police gave media such close access to the Ahmed brothers on different occasions, including that time when Atiq was brought from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj. Many times, he has also given reactions to the media. It points to how the assailants could have planned the killing after a thorough a recee and figured that it would be easy for them to get close to the brothers if they posed as journalists.

In the past, Atiq had even told journalists that he was alive only because they were following his police convoy. Police is now questioning the three attackers, who have been identified as Lavleen Tiwari, Arun and Sunny. Section 144 has been enforced in Prayagraj after the killings while police are on high alert.

Minister Suresh Khanna, meanwhile, called the incident “aasmaani faisla” (divine intervention) when injustice crossed its limits, while BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said it was written in the Bhagavad Gita that “when demons are killed, pressure on earth reduces”.

Read all the Latest India News here