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Judicial panel finds no police laxity in Atiq, Ashraf killings
Three assailants were well informed about the movement of the duo due to live coverage on news channels, states the panel report tabled in UP assembly
There was no negligence on the part of the police in the murders of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf last year, said the judicial commission’s report tabled during the ongoing monsoon session of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.
The duo was shot dead amid heavy police protection by three small time criminals while being taken for a medical examination at Motilal Nehru (Colvin) divisional hospital in Prayagraj on the night of April 15, 2023. Earlier, the state government had formed the five-member judicial commission headed by former chief justice of Allahabad high court justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale to probe the incident.
Former chief justice of Jharkhand high court justice Virendra Singh was the vice chairman of the commission. Its other members included retired justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi –II, retired district judge Brijesh Kumar Soni and retired IPS officer Subesh Kumar Singh.
The report said no negligence or laxity was found on the part of 21 police personnel deployed in the security while taking Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf for the medical examination. It also stated that there was no way out that they would have averted the attack by the assailants, who were present in the garb of media persons among a number of media personnel present there for the live coverage.
As per the commission report, live coverage of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf and every development about them continuously made the assailants aware and well informed about every movement and no proper recce was required for them before committing the crime.
The report said the three assailants, Sunny Singh, Luvlesh Tiwari and Arun Kumar Maurya were holding the mic while approaching Atiq and Ashraf along with media persons and suddenly opened firing. It also said media is not allowed to stay close to the dreaded criminals or accused while they are being brought for medical examination or any another appearance.
Atiq Ahmed’s aides Arbaz and Vijay Kumar Chowdhary alias Usman were killed in retaliatory firing by police in self-defence in Praygaraj on February 27, 2023, and March 6, 2023, respectively. Similarly, Atiq’s son Asad and his aide Ghulam were killed in retaliatory firing by police in self- defence in Jhansi on April 13, 2023.
This was stated by the two-member judicial commission chaired by justice (retd) Rajiv Lochan Mehrotra tabled in the ongoing monsoon session of Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. The other member of the commission was retired director general (DG) Vijay Kumar Gupta.
All the four people killed were prime accused in the sensational killings of lawyer Krishna Kumar Pal alias Umesh Pal and his two gunners in Prayagraj on February 24, 2023.
