New Delhi, April 19
Amid raging controversy over the murder of gangster-turned politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf by three assailants while in police custody, legal experts have demanded an independent probe into the killings.
Ahmad (60) and Ashraf (49) were shot dead by three assailants posing as journalists when the two brothers were interacting with the media while being escorted by police personnel to a medical college in Prayagraj for a check-up on Saturday night. The dramatic murders took place hours after the last rites of Ahmad’s son Asad, who along with one of his associates was gunned down in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13.
Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan said there should be an independent probe into the police encounters and the murder of Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf.
“His son was killed a few days ago and then he was killed along with his brother… It’s very obvious that all these were orchestrated. It shows an alarming state of affairs regarding the rule of law. It’s the duty of the Supreme Court to order an independent investigation into all these killings,” Bhustan said.
However, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said, “He (Atiq) was certainly in police protectio0n but police protection is never a fool proof. We know of so many murders committed in courts. Indira Gandhi was killed by her own bodyguards, Abroad, President Kennedy was killed despite having protection.”
Dwivedi said, “You can’t provide complete protection. You can shoot somebody from far away with the help of sophisticated weapons. I don’t want to get into political allegations. Somebody will criticise the state government, somebody will support it, but the fact is that the policemen are not trained enough to deal with the kind of attack that killed Atiq.”
The Uttar Pradesh Government has already ordered a judicial probe into the incident and the state police were interrogating the three sooters – Lavlesh Tiwari, Arun Maurya and Sunny Purane. It has also taken action against the policemen engaged in Atiq’s protection for lapses on their part.
The Supreme Court had on March 28 dismissed Atiq Ahmad’s petition seeking protection during his custody with the Uttar Pradesh Police in the Umesh Pal murder case, saying the Uttar Pradesh state machinery will take care of his security.
However, a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud agreed to take up on April 24 a PIL filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari seeking an independent probe into the dramatic killing of Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf.
