STATE TIMES NEWS
Lucknow: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the killing of Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf, even as the three assailants who shot the two brothers were shifted from the Prayagraj Central Prison to a Pratapgarh jail on Monday.
The shifting of the shooters to the Pratapgarh District Jail was done on administrative grounds, officials said.
Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said the SIT was formed on the instructions of Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma. “The investigation of the case pertaining to the murder of Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf is being carried out by the SHO of Shahganj police station,” said a statement issued by Sharma on Sunday night.
“…In order to ensure impartial and qualitative investigation, this investigation will be carried out by a Special Investigation Team,” it added.
According to the statement, the SIT will be headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Satish Chandra, while its other two members are Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kotwali police station) Satyendra Prasad Tiwari and Inspector, Investigation Cell of Crime Branch, Om Prakash.
In another statement, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police R K Vishwakarma said a three-member team of supervisors has also been formed to ensure qualitative investigation and time-bound action.
This team is headed by the additional director general of police of Prayagraj zone. The other two members are the police commissioner of Prayagraj and the director of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Lucknow, the DGP said.
The three assailants — Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur, Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj — were taken from Prayagraj at 12 noon and reached Pratapgarh at 2.10 pm, the officials said.
The trio were arrested soon after the dramatic shootout outside the Prayagraj hospital where policemen were escorting gangster-politician Ahmad and his brother Ashraf for a medical check-up Saturday night.
Sources said that the police may submit an application in the court in a day or two seeking remand of the three assailants. On Sunday, the attackers were sent to 14-day judicial custody by the court.
Meanwhile, Prayagraj Central Prison officials refuted reports in a section of media regarding the health of Ali, the Atiq Ahmad’s son who is currently lodged there, and said that these reports are “not true” and he is “completely healthy”.
According to the reports, Ali has been unwell since hearing the news of his father’s killing.
Normal activities were yet to resume in Kasari-Masari, the place where Ahmad’s ancestral house is located, and adjoining areas of Prayagraj on Monday, a day after the former MP and his brother Ashraf were buried in their native place.
The sensitive places in Allahabad West assembly constituency, which was the stronghold of the former Lok Sabha MP, on Monday continued to witness heavy deployment of police personnel.
However, normalcy returned to other parts of the city, including in and around Civil Line bus depot and Hanuman Temple on Monday.
According to the police, the three assailants posted as journalists, carrying video cameras, mike and media identity cards.
While Sunny is a history sheeter and has 14 criminal cases, including that of murder, pending against him in Hamirpur, Tiwari faces cases of selling of illicit liquor, manhandling and harassing women in Banda, a police officer said.
Maurya’s criminal history is being traced, the official said.
Three firearms — a country made A-30 pistol (7.62), a made-in-Turkiye nine-mm Girsan pistol and a 9-mm Zigana pistol — were recovered from them.
An FIR was registered at Shahganj police station under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC and provisions of the Arms Act against Tiwari, Sunny and Maurya in connection with the killing of Atiq and his brother.
On Sunday, a three-member judicial commission was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to look into the Ahmad’s murder which will submit its report within two months.
The commission is headed by Justice (retired) Arvind Kumar Tripathi. Former director general of police Subesh Kumar Singh and former district judge Brijesh Kumar Soni are its members.
Ahmad 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 earlier this year.