E-Paper
Atiq-Ashraf murders: SIT files over 2,000-page charge sheet against three shooters
Accused to be produced before court today; SIT submits 70 CCTV footages as evidence; over 200 witnesses included in case diary and charge sheet
PRAYAGRAJ The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday filed a 2056-page charge sheet against three assailants who had allegedly shot dead gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his younger brother Khalid Azeem aka ‘Ashraf’ in Prayagraj on April 15 night.
The charge sheet was filed against three accused - Lavlesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh and Arun Maurya - in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Prayagraj, Dinesh Kumar Gautam. No lawyers were present to represent the three shooters.
As per the charge sheet, Lavlesh Tiwari hails from Banda, Arun Maurya from Kasganj and Sunny Singh from Hamirpur. They had past criminal records and planned to murder Atiq and Ashraf to earn fame and money. They used sophisticated firearms, which were given to Sunny Singh by Delhi-based gangster Jitendra Man aka Gogi for killing his rival Tillu Tajpuria.
After the perusal of records, the court took cognizance of the charge sheet filed by SIT and fixed July 14 as the next date of hearing in the case. The judicial remand of the three accused was also ending on July 14 and they were likely be produced before the court through video-conferencing.
Gangster brothers Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were allegedly gunned down by the trio at Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital around 10.30pm on April 15 when they were being taken for a court mandated medical examination under police custody remand.
The SIT submitted 2056 pages of documents, which included 2000 pages of case diary, 56 pages of charge sheet, scientific evidence and statements.
CJM Dinesh Kumar Gautam examined the charge sheet, which included relevant documents, case diary, post-mortem examination reports, photographs, crime scene map, FIRs, report of recreation of the crime, ballistic report of firearms used in crime etc filed by police under sub section (2) of Section 173 of the IPC. He said there was adequate base to take cognizance of the crime.
The CJM ordered to register the case and produce the accused before the court on July 14. He also instructed to provide the copy of the charge sheet to the accused and transfer the case for trial to the sessions court.
The charge sheet, filed by the SIT 88 days after the murder of Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf, mentioned that the three accused were arrested from the crime scene. A three-member SIT headed by ADCP (crime) Satish Chandra was constituted by senior police officials to investigate the murders of gangster brothers.
The SIT included over 200 witnesses in the case diary and charge sheet. The eyewitnesses and witnesses were mentioned separately. The eyewitnesses included 21 policemen engaged in the security of Atiq and Ashraf, 11 media personnel and more than 16 hospital personnel. The team submitted 70 CCTV footages and 15 video recordings of CCTV cameras as evidence in the court.
The team also included statements of the three assailants, the CDR report of the mobile phones found in the hotel room, CCTV and video footage, statements of independent sources, scientific evidence collected from the crime scene and other facts in the charge sheet.
The case diary included the detailed information about the assailants and their motive behind committing the murders of mafia Atiq and his brother Ashraf.
The SIT added the section of fraud and forgery against the three accused after recovery of forged Aadhaar cards from them during custody remand. The case diary mentioned that Lavlesh and Sunny went to Delhi where they met Arun Maurya.
They purchased mic and camera from a market in Delhi to pose as media persons to reach near their targets. They later reached Lucknow and stayed at a hotel near Charbagh Railway Station before coming to Prayagraj.
