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Assailants tracking Atiq since his police remand started: FIR
The three men, who shot dead Atiq and Ashraf Ahmad, followed them for several days to kill them, but couldn't do so due to a lack of opportunity, the FIR said.
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Prayagraj: Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday filed a first information report against three assailants who gunned down gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azeem, alias Ashraf, saying that the three men followed around the criminal duo for several days to kill them, but couldn’t do so earlier due to a lack of opportunity.
The men were booked for murder, attempt to murder and possessing illegal weapons.
The FIR, lodged by station house officer (SHO) of Dhoomanganj police station, inspector Rajesh Kumar Maurya, named Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda, Mohit aka Sunny (23) of Hamirpur and Arun Kumar Maurya (18) of Kasganj district as the accused who gunned down Ahmad and Ashraf.
Posing as journalists, three assailants sprayed Ahmad and his brother with bullets on the Colvin Hospital premises in Prayagraj city around 10.30pm on Saturday when police brought the duo there for a routine health examination. Ahmad and Ashraf were talking to the media and were ringfenced by policemen when gunshots rang out and the murder was captured live on video.
The station house officer of Shahganj police station, Ashwani Kumar Singh, confirmed the registration of the FIR at 9.53am on Sunday.
The FIR, a copy of which is with HT, said that during the interrogation, the three assailants confessed that they killed Ahmad and Ashraf to wipe out their gang and make a name for themselves in the state.
“The three men told the police that they failed to gauge the security arrangements in place and therefore could not flee the scene and got caught. They also said that they were following Ahmad and Ashraf along with the crowd of reporters since the criminals were sent to police remand, because they intended to target the brothers but could not do so earlier due to lack of an opportunity,” the FIR added.
Atiq and Ashraf were sent to police remand on April 13.
“The FIR was registered under different sections of the Indian Penal Code including section 302 (murder) and section 307 (attempt to commit murder), besides Section 3 (using prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition), 7 (prohibition of acquisition or possession, or of manufacture or sale of prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition), Section 25 (possession or carrying any prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition) and Section 27 (using any arms or ammunition sans licence) of Arms Act and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) Act.”
In the FIR, police said the assailants posed as media persons to approach Ahmad and Ashraf, along with other reporters as the duo was being taken for daily medical examination at the Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital. Before anyone could react, the three assailants opened fire using sophisticated firearms on Ahmad and Ashraf from a close range, added the FIR. Tiwari was also injured in the firing, said a senior police official.
A police official said that all the three assailants, along with their weapons, were nabbed from the site. A local court later remanded the assailants in 14-day judicial custody.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has formed a three-member judicial commission to probe the killing of Atiq and his brother.
