Atiq Ahmed, a former mafia don who is now a politician, is seen on surveillance footage from Saturday night exiting a police van next to a hospital in Prayagraj, better known as Allahabad.
A police officer and his brother Ashraf assist a large guy named Atiq Ahmed who is a former member of parliament and a convicted felon. A chain that is fastened to their shackles is used to lead the brothers.
Local TV reporters surround them as they begin to move, some of them are shooters posing as journalists. They are encircled by a ring of police constables.
His white turban falls off as a pistol is brought up to his head and he immediately falls to the ground. His sibling gets shot shortly after that.
The officers were promptly greeted by two gunmen and another man.
The state government of Uttar Pradesh has launched an inquiry, but the brazen murder on Saturday night has drawn a barrage of condemnation from prominent local and national leaders who claim it demonstrates the breakdown of law and order in the area.
The politician and attorney Kapil Sibal said that Rule of Law and Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf had both been killed in Uttar Pradesh.
The was informed by Vikram Singh, a former director general of the state police in Uttar Pradesh, that the murder of Ahmad was unacceptable. “Murder is worse,” he remarked, referring to a death while in detention.
Atiq Ahmed was a contentious individual, and that is understating it.
The 60-year-old Prayagraj native was born into a low-income family and dropped out of school, but over the years he accumulated enormous money, benefited from political patronage and power, and developed a significant following in his hometown and abroad.
He was chosen from the city five times as a state assembly representative beginning in 1989. In 2004, he was chosen from the Phulpur seat to serve in the parliament.
A Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde figure, according to Mr. Singh, he “spent lavishly to help poor people — paying for weddings, giving them money during Eid festivals, and helping poor women buy school uniforms and books for their children.”
But when Ahmed was charged with kidnapping, murder, extortion, and land grabbing, this façade began to fall apart.
He was accused of being engaged in more than 100 instances that had already been filed against him, but the victims were allegedly too terrified to file charges.
Over the course of two decades, Atiq Ahmed spent time behind bars, yet he still managed to control the underworld in Uttar Pradesh and make sure his men were safe.
However, Atiq Ahmed influence started to decline as the local Samajwadi Party cut its links with him and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took office in the state.
He was detained for assault in 2017 and then sent to Gujarat, a state in western India.
The most current action against him got underway in February after video surfaced showing a group of men shooting Umesh Pal, a crucial witness in the 2005 murder of Raju Pal, a politician associated with the local Bahujan Samaj Party. Pal was a critical witness in the case. The Atiq Ahmed brothers had been charged with taking part in Pal’s slaying.
The murder in February that was seen on film started a sequence of events that resulted in Atiq Ahmed and several members of his family and followers being killed, his wife being sought after, two of his sons being imprisoned, Atiq Ahmed and the other two sons, who are minors, being placed in government protection homes.
Atiq Ahmed was transferred to Prayagraj to face charges in the matter after the Indian Supreme Court last month rejected his appeal, in which he claimed that the police had threatened to kill him. From a jail in a different region of the state, his brother was also sent to the city.
Asad, his 19-year-old son, and an assistant were shot and killed by the police on Thursday after a phoney “encounter.” Rumours quickly spread that their deaths was a premeditated assassination.
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On Sunday morning, Prayagraj was mostly deserted. The main bazaars in the old city, which are often bustling with activity as Muslims celebrate the feast of Eid at this time of year, were abandoned.
On practically every street, there are police cars and officers present. In most places, internet services are not working. Locals are also unwilling to speak to the media or discuss the killings in any way.
People were astonished, a 40-year-old Muslim guy who declined to give his name told the.
“How is it possible for someone to die in front of the cops and the media? I agree that guy had a criminal record, but it does not justify shooting him in the back. What about the law’s supremacy? He queried.
“Many of us are speculating as to whether he was murdered due to his Muslim faith. I doubt so, but the city has been afraid since this occurred. We’re due better.
However, Mahant Raju Das, the leader of the Hanumangadhi temple in Ayodhya, stated that such events should not be seen through a sectarian lens.
“Religion or caste do not matter to criminals. I urge all politicians to avoid seeing crime through a Hindu-Muslim prism, the lawmaker said, adding that the incident “raises concerns about the state’s law and order situation.”
“The state still has a lot of mafias. But rather of killing them in this manner, they need to be imprisoned until they repent of their faults.