An intense video of the men being slain was broadcast on television and posted on social media. Atiq Ahmed, a former politician,gangster has his turban shot off as a shooter is shown pointing a weapon at his temple while reaching over the shoulders of the police.
In a murder that was seen on live television on Saturday, a former legislator in India’s parliament who had been convicted of kidnapping was shot dead with his brother while police were escorting them for a medical checkup.
Soon after his brother, Ashraf Ahmed was shot and the two victims died shortly after the attack.
How the attack unfolded on the Gangster
The police quickly apprehended three men they believed to be responsible. According to media accounts, the attackers disguised to be journalists. Following the shooting, one turned himself in while police arrested the other two suspects.
They had been a part of the crowd that had gathered as the two brothers, who were supposedly the leaders of a local criminal gang, were carried handcuffed from a hospital in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday night.
Reportedly, the suspected shooters yelled Hindu chants after the killing. A police officer suffered injuries during the assault.
Uttar Pradesh and police encounters: A troubled tale
The Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party has been in power in India’s state of Uttar Pradesh since 2017. Since then, in alleged “police encounters” that rights groups claim frequently result in extrajudicial murders, more than 180 persons in India’s most populous state who were wanted on criminal charges have been killed.
Atiq Ahmad, 60, was sentenced to prison in 2019 after being found guilty of kidnapping Umesh Pal, a lawyer who had provided evidence against him as a witness in the 2005 murder of a politician. Pal was also murdered in February.
Atiq Ahmad’s teenage son and another man, who were both charged with Pal’s murder, were both assassinated by police on Thursday in what is being referred to as a shootout.
The grisly murder of his ex-party member while in police custody, according to the leader of the opposition Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav, proved that the governing Bharatiya Janata Party had failed to uphold law and order in Uttar Pradesh.
Following the shooting on Saturday, officials banned the gatherings of more than four people throughout the state and shut down mobile internet access in Prayagraj out of concern for the likelihood of violent unrest following the murders. A judicial investigation led by a retired judge was also ordered by the government.
About the Ahmad brothers
According to media sources, Atiq Ahmad had requested protection from the Indian Supreme Court two weeks prior, claiming that state functionaries in Uttar Pradesh posed an “open, direct, and immediate threat to his life.” However, the court decided against getting involved and instructed his attorney to contact the nearby state court.
Atiq Ahmad served as a state legislator four times and was elected in 2004 from the Phulpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, which had previously been represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister.
In the late 1980s, he was one of the first politicians from Uttar Pradesh to face prosecution under the stringent Gangster Act after being the subject of more than 100 criminal investigations. He also used to offer many struggling households cash assistance and promoted a Robin Hood image among his primarily Muslim constituents.
