Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed received nine bullets while his brother Ashraf Ahmed received five bullets, injuring critical parts of their bodies, resulting in their instant deaths, revealed the post-mortem report of the deceased. Ahmed and Ashraf, who were in handcuffs, were shot dead by three men posing as journalists when they were answering reporters’ queries on Saturday while being escorted by police personnel to a medical college for a checkup in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj.
As per the duo’s postmortem report, Atiq (60) had three gunshot wounds in the head and six in other parts of the body including the neck, stomach and waist. While seven bullets penetrated the former BSP leader’s body, two were found stuck inside.
Meanwhile, Ashraf had one gunshot wound on the face and four on other body parts. The report said that bullets hit critical parts of both brothers’ bodies, resulting in their immediate deaths.
As per the forensic team, a total of 20 empty cartridges were found at the spot where the duo were shot dead.
‘Conspiracy to Kill Atiq Was Hatched A Long Back’
Police believe that a conspiracy to kill Atiq Ahmed was hatched a long time back, however, the attacks did not get a chance till now to put their plan in action due to high security, sources privy to the development to News18.
“There was a plan in place to kill Atiq on March 26, when he was being brought to Prayagraj from Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail. However, due to tight security, the assailants decided against putting their plan into action,” said sources.
They further said that attackers have recceed all the areas including the court, hospital and police station, where Atiq and Ashraf were being taken, but they could not put their plan into action due to very tight security in these places.
After Atiq was brought to Praygraj, sources said the three assailants hatched a foolproof plan to pose as journalists in the crowd, as the media was the only one who could go near the brothers.
They added that the assailants had decided just to kill Atiq and Ashraf and not to shoot any police personnel or media persons.
The police suspect that the three assignments must have been trained to operate the automatic pistols used in the killing, as it is not easy to manoeuvre them as they could swing from side to side when the bullets are fired.
The assailants — Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda, Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj — were arrested soon after the dramatic shootout that took place in full view of camera crews outside the Prayagraj hospital.
Tiwari was injured in the crossfire, which also hurt police personnel. The assailants posed as television journalists and fired at Ahmed and Ashraf at almost point-blank range.
On Sunday, the three assailants were presented in a district court, which remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.
What Did Police Say?
According to the FIR, the three shooters told police that they killed the Ahmed brothers to make a name for themselves in the world of crime.
According to the FIR, the accused told police that they wanted to establish their identity in the world of crime by eliminating Ahmed’s gang.
They also said they could not flee after the killings due to swift police action.
Police said the three assailants had joined a group of reporters who were trying to get sound bites from the Ahmed brothers. The men suddenly dropped their cameras and whipped out guns, they said.
UP Police Forms SIT To Probe Atiq’s Murder
The Uttar Pradesh government has formed a three-member judicial commission to probe the killing of the brothers.
The commission will be headed by retired high court judge Arvind Kumar Tripathi. Retired judge Brijesh Kumar Soni and former Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Subesh Kumar Singh will be the two other members of the panel, officials said.
The commission will have to submit its report to the government within two months, they said, adding that the state home department has formed the probe panel under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Police has also formed a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the killings. Citing a statement issued by Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police R K Vishwakarma, Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said the SIT was formed on the instructions of the Commissioner of Police of Prayagraj.
In order to ensure qualitative investigation and time-bound action, a three-member team of supervisors has also been formed.
This team is headed by the additional director general of police of Prayagraj. The other two members are the commissioner of police of Prayagraj and the director of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Lucknow, the statement said.
Raids are being conducted in several parts of Prayagraj. Police is also interrogating family members of all three accused to track down their last locations.
Atiq Ahmed Buried Next To Son
Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf were buried in their ancestral village in this Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj district on Sunday amid tight security.
Ahmed’s son Asad, an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case who fell to police bullets, was buried at the same graveyard here on Saturday. Ahmed was laid to rest right next to his son’s grave. The graveyard is located in Ahmed’s ancestral village and his parents were also buried there.
Asad, the third of the five sons of Ahmed, was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13. He was on the run since Umesh Pal’s killing on February 24.
Who Was Atiq Ahmed?
Ahmed won the 2004 parliamentary polls as a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Phulpur — a seat once represented in the Lok Sabha by the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. He was also an MLA for five terms, winning the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls from Allahabad (West) in 1991, 1993, 1996, 2002 and 2004.
In a heated debate in the Assembly in February, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had accused the SP of sheltering gangsters like Ahmed and said the government will ground the mafia to dust (“mitti me mila denge”).
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