India: 3-member judicial committee to submit Atiq Ahmad killing enquiry report in 2 months
Accused killers say they shot ex-MP to ‘become popular’
Lucknow: The three-member judicial enquiry committee, probing the murder of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf has been asked to submit a report to the government in two months.
The committee will be headed by retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi of Allahabad HC and will also comprise retired IPC officer Subesh Kumar Singh and retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni.
Earlier on Saturday, hours after the murder of the duo, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognizance of the Prayagraj incident and ordered the formation of a three-member Judicial Commission (Judicial Inquiry Commission) in the matter.
Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad were shot dead by assailants on Saturday while being taken for a medical check-up in Prayagraj.
Atiq Ahmad was accused in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case and also in the Umesh Pal murder case which happened in February this year.
In the aftermath of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Government barred gatherings of more than four people across the entire state.
All three assailants were arrested, informed police after Atiq and his brother were shot dead.
“Three people have been arrested and they are being questioned. A journalist was also injured as he fell down and a constable sustained a bullet injury,” Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma said earlier.
Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday said that shooters who killed Atiq and Ashraf were posing as journalists at the spot of the incident.
Shortly after mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Prayagraj, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said crime has reached its peak in the state and the morale of the “criminals” has grown by leaps and bounds.
Atiq Ahmad, a former lawmaker in India’s parliament, convicted of kidnapping, was shot dead along with his brother while police were escorting them for a medical check-up in a slaying caught on live television on Saturday.
The dramatic footage of the men being killed was shared across broadcast channels and social media. A gunman is seen reaching over the shoulders of police to point a pistol at the temple of the former lawmaker, Atiq Ahmed, whose turban is blown off as the gun discharges.
His brother, Ashraf Ahmed, was shot a split second later.
In other footage, one gunman is seen firing repeatedly at the brother’s bodies as they lay on the ground.
The two victims died within minutes, while police quickly detained three men suspected of carrying out the slaying.
Media reports say the assailants had been posing as journalists. One surrendered immediately after the shooting, while officers subdued the other two suspects.
They had been among a throng of journalists that had gathered as the two brothers, allegedly kingpins in a local criminal organisation, were being brought, handcuffed from a hospital Prayagraj city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening.
Last week police shot dead Atiq Ahmed’s son in Jhansi city.
He had been wanted in connection with a murder case that was being investigated as part of a wider crackdown into a land mafia operating in Uttar Pradesh.
Police in Uttar Pradesh have killed more than 180 suspected criminals during encounters over the past six years.
Before losing an election in 2014, Ahmed had been a lawmaker with the Samajwadi Party, and later the regional Apna Dal party.
“We wanted to kill Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf with the aim of completely wiping off the Atiq-Ashraf gang and making a name for ourselves,” the FIR quoted the arrested assailants as telling the police.
“The moment we received an update about Atiq and Ashraf being taken into police custody, we planned to kill them by posing as local journalists and blending with the crowd,” the FIR stated further.