Lucknow | The three assailants who killed gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf posed as journalists, carrying video cameras, mike and media identity cards, the Uttar Pradesh Police said on Sunday.
According the the statement issued by Special DG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar, the attackers used made-in-Turkiye pistols and fired indiscriminately from point-blank range on the two bothers.
The statement identified the three accused as Sunny (23) from Hamirpur, Lavlesh Tiwari (22) from Banda, and Arun Kumar Maurya (!8) from Kashganj.
"At about 10.30 pm both Atiq and Ashraf were being taken for a health examination Motilal Nehru Regional Hospital in Shahganj area, where mediapersons were persistently trying to take bite of the two," the Special DG (Law and Order) said in the statement.
"The mediapersons were breaking the security cordon to reach to the accused (Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf) for taking their bites. In this sequence, both Atiq and Ashraf were giving bites to the media and they were escorted (by the police). Meanwhile, from the crowd of media, three mediapersons with video camera, mike and media Id reached them and started firing indiscriminately," he said.
The two brothers got injured and fell on the ground instantly, he said, adding they were taken to the hospital where they were declared dead.
Constable Maan Singh has sustained a firearm injury, the police statement issued this evening said, adding some mediapersons also got injured due to the "stampede" following the firing.
The injured policeman has been also sent for treatment.
The three attackers were caught by the policemen using necessary force, the statement said.
According to information gathered till now, Sunny is a professional criminal and a historysheeter and has 14 criminal cases including that of murder, loot, narcotics transport, attempt to murder pending against him in Hamirpur, Kumar said.
Tiwari faces cases of selling of illicit liquor, manhandling and harassing women at the City and Beberu police stations in Banda, he said, adding cases under Information Technology Act was also registered against him.
Maurya's criminal history is being traced, he said.
The statement said police have recovered three firearms including a countrymade A-30 pistol (7.62), a made-in-Turkiye nine-mm Girsan pistol, and a 9-mm Zigana Pistol, also made in Turkiye, it said.
An FIR has been registered in this case at Shahganj police station and probe is underway.
A report on the entire incident has been sent to the National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commission.
A three-member judicial commission has been constituted by the government that will submit its report within two months. The commission is headed by HC Justice (retired) Arvind Kumar Tripathi, while ex-DGP Subesh Kumar Singh and former district Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni are its members.
Both Atiq and Ashraf were brought to Prayagraj from Gujarat and Bareilly prisons for interrogation in connection with the killing of Umesh Pal and his two police security guards.
Lucknow | A child whose brothers are priests and a boy who ran away from home -- this is how neighbours and families remember the men caught on tape Saturday as they pumped bullets into politician-gangster Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf.
According to the FIR, the three shooters told police that they killed the Ahmad brothers to make a name for themselves in the world of crime.
The assailants, Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda, Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj, were arrested soon after the dramatic shootout outside the Prayagraj hospital where policemen were escorting the brothers for a medical check-up.
Tiwari was injured in the cross-fire, which also hurt a policeman. The assailants posed as TV crew and fired at almost point-blank range.
Police described Hamirpur's Sunny as a “history-sheeter” who had 14 cases registered against him. These include murder, attempt to murder, robbery, narcotics smuggling.
Sunny's brother Pintu said he has no idea how he got into crime.
"My brother used to do nothing, and roam here and there. He has some cases registered against him, but I don't know the details,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“We were three brothers, out of which one has died earlier. I don't know how Sunny got into crime. He ran away from home many years ago. I have no clue about what happened yesterday," he said.
A neighbour said Sunny has not been living in the area for about 10 years.
"He was a resident of Kurara, and was normal when he was young. He went to jail after a brawl, after which his mentality changed and he entered the world of crime. After a few incidents, he left Kurara. He was in Hamirpur jail for about a year," he said.
Kurara SHO Pavan Kumar Patel told PTI that the first case against Sunny was registered in 2016 and the most recent before the Prayagraj shootout in 2019.
In Banda, a local resident, who did not want to be named, told media persons that Lavlesh Tiwari's family was unlike the rogue son.
“His family has been our neighbour. The family is simple. Two of his brothers are priests while one is still studying. Lavlesh has been into crime and has been to jail several times. He has also gone to jail in an eve-teasing case earlier,” he said.
“He had ambitions to earn a big name in the world of crime,” the neighbour claimed.
Tiwari already faces cases of selling illicit liquor, manhandling, eve-teasing, and charges under the IT Act in Banda, police said.
In Kasganj, the neighbours of Arun Maurya expressed shock over the incident.
The shooter's parents are dead. Two of his brothers are in the scrap business in Delhi, they told reporters.
They also claimed that no one in the village knew what Maurya did and where he lived. He too appeared to have left the village about a decade ago.
Police are still probing whether he was involved in any crime earlier.
After the shootout, police charged the three men for murder and attempt to murder, as well as under the Arms Act. At least two firearms were recovered from the site of the shooting.
According to the FIR, the accused told police they wanted to make a name for themselves and establish their identity by eliminating Atiq Ahmad's gang.
They said they couldn't make their escape because of the swift police action, according to the FIR.
"Since the time we got to know about the police custody of Atiq and Ashraf, we were planning to murder them. So we posed as journalists and when we got the right opportunity, we pulled the trigger and implemented the plan," one of the accused is quoted as saying in the FIR.
Police said the three assailants had joined the group of reporters who were trying to get sound bites from the two gangsters. The men suddenly dropped their camera and whipped out the guns, they said.
Prayagraj (UP) | Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf were buried in their ancestral village in this Uttar Pradesh district on Sunday.
The bodies of the two brothers, who were gunned down by three assailants posing as journalists in Prayagraj on Saturday night, were handed over to the family members after conducting the post-mortem examination for performing the last rites.
The bodies of Ahmad and Ashraf were taken to the Kasari Masari graveyard in ambulances.
Ahmad's son Asad, an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case who fell to police bullets, was buried at the same graveyard on Saturday.
The graveyard is located in Ahmad's ancestral village and his parents were also laid to rest there.
There was heavy police presence at the graveyard and only a few distant relatives of the deceased brothers and locals were present inside the burial ground.
Asad was the third of the five sons of Ahmad, a former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP, and was absconding since Umesh Pal's killing on February 24.
Hours after Asad was interred, Ahmad (60) and Ashraf, who were in handcuffs, were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists when they were answering reporters' queries while being escorted by police personnel to a medical college here for a checkup.
