The Supreme Court on Friday sought a 'comprehensive affidavit' from the Uttar Pradesh government on the inquiry into the killings of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed. The duo were killed while being taken to a hospital in Prayagraj on April 15 for medical check up.
While hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking independent panel probe into the killings of the brothers and 183 other encounter killings in UP since 2017, a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta asked the state government on how the killers got the knowledge that Ahmed brothers were being taken to hospital, reported LiveLaw.
"Why did the police make Ahmed brothers walk till the hospital entry gate instead of taking them till there in the ambulance," the court further asked.
To this senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the UP government, said the assailants have been going three days in a row. "Because of this court's judgement, any accused in police custody must be taken for a medical examination every two days. These assailants have been going three days in a row," Rohatgi said.
He added that the gangsters were made to walk to the hospital gate because the "distance was very short."
Rohatgi also urged the court to not issue notice stating that the state had been probing into the two deaths. "This man and his entire family are embroiled in heinous crimes for the last 30 years. It is probable that the two were killed by those whose wrath they had encountered. This is one of the angles we are looking into," Rohatgi told the bench.
Meanwhile, the court also ordered the government to file an affidavit disclosing the steps taken with respect to other encounter killings in the Umesh Pal murder case, including Atiq Ahmed's son Asad. Besides, the UP government was also ordered to inform the court about the steps taken in pursuance of the report of the judicial enquiry commission led by Justice BS Chauhan which probed into the Vikas Dubey encounter killing of 2020.
