The three assailants who gunned down gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf in Prayagraj on Saturday night approached the duo posing as journalists.
The three men, whose identity has not been revealed yet, had been carrying a video camera and microphone. The shooting happened in full view of the media. The horrifying footage, doing rounds on social media, showed a man pulling the trigger on Atiq Ahmed as he talks to reporters. The former Samajwadi Party MP is seen collapsing as the assailants then fire at his brother.
The three men have been arrested in this connection. Police said further details will be shared later.
Atiq and Ashraf were in handcuffs when the incident happened. The duo were being taken for a medical check-up by police personnel to a medical college here.
"In accordance with a mandatory legal requirement, Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were brought to the hospital for a medical examination. According to preliminary information, three men posing as journalists approached them and opened fire. Ahmad and Ashraf were killed in the attack. The attackers have been held and are being questioned," Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj, Ramit Sharma said.
He added that the three assailants, who were arrested immediately after the incident, had joined the group of media persons who were trying to get sound bites from Ahmad and Ashraf.
The murders come just hours after the last rites of Ahmad's son Asad, who was gunned down in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13, were performed in his native village.
Police constable Man Singh was injured in the incident as a bullet hit his arm and a journalist was also hurt after he fell during the commotion that followed the shooting. The bullet-riddled bodies of Ahmad and Ashraf were taken away from the spot as tension gripped the area after the sensational killings.
However, moments before their killing, Atiq and Ashraf were talking to the media. When asked his response on not being able to attend son Asad''s funeral, Atiq said: "Nahi le gaye to nahi gaye (they did not take us, so we did not go)." These were his last words.
"Main baat ye hai ki Guddu Muslim.... (the thing is that Guddu Muslim...) were Ashraf's last words.
Both Atiq and Ashraf were the key accused in the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder case of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal.
Umesh and his two police security guards were shot dead outside his Dhoomanganj residence here on February 24.
Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Ahmad, Ashraf, Ahmad's wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.
A police team from Uttar Pradesh brought Ahmad, who was lodged in the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, to Prayagraj on March 26 to produce him in a court in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case.
On March 28, the court sentenced Ahmad and two others to life imprisonment in the kidnapping case.
In 2006, Ahmad and his aides abducted Umesh Pal and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had got a complaint registered in this regard.
The Supreme Court had in April 2019 directed that Ahmad be shifted to a high-security jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault of Lucknow-based real-estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal while in jail.
Ahmad was named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the Umesh Pal murder case, police said.
Ahmad moved the Supreme Court for protection, claiming that he and his family have been falsely implicated in the Umesh Pal murder case and he may be killed in a fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
He had also told media persons that there were plans to murder him while in police custody.
