The incident, captured on camera, occurred while the politician and his brother were talking to reporters
Published : 16 Apr 2023, 01:07 PM
India’s gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed have been shot dead in police custody by three shooters who posed as journalists in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, Indian private broadcaster NDTV reported.
The incident, captured on camera, occurred while the politician and his brother were talking to reporters on Saturday.
The three attackers, identified as Lovlesh Tewari, Sunny Singh, and Arun Maurya, were arrested after police subdued them on the spot. All three have criminal records, sources said. The attackers' families say they have nothing to do with them, according to NDTV.
Videos showed Atiq and his brother were handcuffed and being taken to a hospital moments before the killings. Atiq was shot in the head from behind. The Uttar Pradesh Police faced massive criticism for the sensational on-camera murder.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that crime had peaked in the state and the daring of "criminals" had grown by leaps and bounds.
The killings come after Atiq Ahmed's son Asad was killed in a shootout with law enforcers in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi on Thursday, NDTV reported.
Atiq Ahmed was accused in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case and was accused of killing a witness in the case, Umesh Pal, in February this year.
Asad was killed along with Ghulam, both of whom were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj. Each of them carried a reward of Rs 500,000 on their heads. The police said that foreign-made weapons were recovered following the shootout.
KILLERS FACED MANY CASES, FAMILIES SAY THEY WERE NOT IN TOUCH
Lovelesh Tewari had previously been to jail. He occasionally visited his family in Banda and had been there five to six days ago, the father said.
"He is my son. We saw the incident on TV. We are not aware of the actions of Lovelesh, nor do we have anything to do with this. He never lived here, nor was he involved in our family affairs. He did not tell us anything. He came here five to six days ago. We had not been on talking terms with him for years. There is already a case registered against him. He was jailed in that case," Yagya Tiwari, Lovelesh's father, said.
"He doesn't work. He was a drug addict. We have four children. We have nothing to say about this," Yagya Tiwari added.
Sunny has 14 cases registered against him, and has been on the run since being declared a history-sheeter. His father is dead, and he left home after selling off his share of the ancestral property. Sunny has not visited his family, his mother and brother, in the last five years. His brother runs a tea stall.
"He used to wander around and did no work. We live separately and don't know how he became a criminal. We have no idea about the incident," Pintu Singh, Sunny's brother, said.
The third shooter, Arun, had left home as a child. His name appeared in connection with the murder of a policeman on a train in 2010, sources said. He worked at a factory in Delhi.
The suspects told the police during questioning that they wanted to become notorious criminals, which is why they murdered Atiq, though the police are not taking them at their word, sources told NDTV.
There are gaps in their testimonies, and the police will continue investigating, they said.