Assailants shot at Atiq with Turkey-made pistol as used by Moosewala killers; FIR registered

LUCKNOW,APR 16: The Prayagraj police, on Sunday, registered an FIR against the three assailants for the dastardly killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in full public view in front of Kalvin Hospital of Prayagraj, late Saturday night.

The three assailants were Lavlesh Tiwari, Sunny and Arun Maurya. They have been booked under Sections 302 (Punishment for murder) and 307 (Attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 3, 7, 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

As per the police sources, the three assailants had been carrying very sophisticated weapons and had fired around 44 shots at the handcuffed gangster brothers. They used the Zigana pistol – the same Turkey-manufactured weapon — which was used to kill Sidhu Moosewala.

The killing of the two gangster brothers was caught on live camera. The assailants had come there in the garb of media persons carrying an old video camera with a microphone and had intruded into the police circle escorting Atiq and Ashraf to the hospital for routine medical check-ups.

The first shot was fired at Atiq when he and his brother Ashraf were responding to the questions posed by media persons in front of the hospital. It was followed by a flurry of firepower on the two brothers and within a span of 44 seconds they were lying dead in a pool of blood.

However, the attackers continued to shoot at Atiq and Ashraf even after they had fallen. While the assailants were emptying their weapons on Atiq and Ashraf, they were overpowered by the cops. In the melee, constable Man Singh, who was part of the police escort, received a gunshot in his arm and a journalist also sustained some injuries.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination of both Atiq and Ashraf’s bodies has been going on in Prayagraj.

As per the police sources, a panel of five doctors was conducting the autopsy via videography. They are expected to be buried by Sunday evening at their family graveyard in Kasari-Masari where Atiq’s son Asad was laid to rest on Saturday.  Asad and his aide Ghulam Mohammad were killed in an encounter with UP STF in Jhansi on Thursday.

Atiq had been facing more than 102 criminal cases and his brother Ashraf had 57 cases of various crimes including murder, land grabbing, abduction, and extortion. While Atiq was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in the Umesh Pal abduction case on March 28, his brother was exonerated by the MP/MLA court for evidence.

Pal, who was killed allegedly by Atiq’s henchmen led by his own son Asad on February 24, was a main witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case in which Atiq was the prime accused.

-The New Indian Express