All 17 members of the police team providing security to Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf have been suspended in the aftermath of their murder on Saturday night. In addition, to prevent any trouble in the state, Section 144 has been imposed across all districts.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife that the brothers were killed for they would have spilled the beans about their connections to politicians, builders and industrialists. He is believed to have told the police about the numerous shell companies through which the ill gotten wealth of many politicians and bureaucrats has been funnelled into real estate.
On April 16, Ahmed's son Asad was killed in a police encounter. The father had said that he had no knowledge of his son's activities and also that his son could not even hold a pistol. Ahmed's wife, Shaista, is absconding.
Ahmed had some 102 criminal cases listed against his name. He committed his first murder when he was 17.
Shooters identified
Three shooters- Lavlesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh and Arun Maurya have been nabbed for the murder that took place when the brothers were being taken for medical examination. The three have told the police that they would not have regretted being killed during the incident.
Lavlesh is a resident of Banda and his family has denied any connections with him. Maurya, from Kasganj, is wanted in the killing of a railway policeman for the last six years. Sunny is a resident of Hamirpur and has 17 criminal cases against him.
Such was Ahmed's clout- and perhaps misplaced confidence, that post his son's murder, he had said that he would seek revenge and show what he was made of.
The debate over the murders in police custody has already started to gain strength with many saying that perhaps it is time to shut down the courts in Uttar Pradesh.
A three member judicial commission has been announced by the state's chief minister to probe the murders.