On a day gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf were buried in the Kasari Masari graveyard in their native village in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the State Government constituted a three-member judicial commission to probe their killing on Saturday by four men posing as journalists. The commission will be headed by High Court Judge (retired) Arvind Kumar Tripathi, retired Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni and former DGP Subesh Kumar Singh. The commission will have to submit its report to the Government within two months, officials said on Sunday, adding the Home Department has constituted the panel under Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
Earlier, on Sunday a Prayagraj court sent Atiq Ahmad’s three assailants Luvlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda, Mohit, alias Sunny, (23) of Hamirpur and Arun Kumar Maurya (18) of Kasganj to 14 days’ judicial custody. The three were caught on the spot after shooting Atiq and his brother outside a hospital in the Shahganj area. The last rites of Ahmad’s son Asad, who was gunned down in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13, were performed here just hours before Saturday’s shooting.
“Three accused in Atiq-Ashraf killing sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a court here,” lawyer Manish Khanna, who represented Ahmad, said.
Meanwhile, police patrolling was intensified on Sunday in Prayagraj’s Chakiya area where Ahmad’s house is located even as the UP police tightened security across the State. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been issued in all districts of UP to prevent any untoward incident. Internet services remained shut in Prayagraj district as part of the security measures. Interestingly, just two weeks before his killing, the Supreme Court had dismissed Ahmad’s plea seeking protection during his custody with the UP Police.
On March 28, the apex court had dismissed Ahmad’s plea for protection and observed that the UP State machinery would take care of his protection in case of a threat to his life.
When Atiq’s plea had come up for hearing before the top court, a Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi granted him liberty to approach the Allahabad High Court for protection after he had claimed that his life was under threat while being in the custody of the UP Police.
“It is not a case where this court is going to interfere. Liberty granted to move appropriate application before the High Court. Whatever is the process prescribed under law will be followed,” the Bench had said.
In his plea, Ahmad, who was earlier lodged at the Ahmedabad central jail in Gujarat pursuant to the apex court’s direction, had referred to the statement made by Adityanath on the floor of the Assembly to “completely ruin and destroy” him.
Interestingly, as per an FIR registered at the Shahganj police station, Ahmad admitted to having links with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Police said Ahmad’s statement was recorded on court orders.
“The ISI, using drones, used to drop weapons in Punjab, and someone linked to the ISI used to collect these arms and send some of them to LeT, some to Khalistan separatist organisations, and some weapons like .45 bore pistol, AK-47 and RDX were made available to me, and I used to pay for the same.
“People belonging to these organisations also used to come to my place. And, information gathered from their conversations suggested that they wanted to cause a major incident in the country,” Ahmad told police.
He also told police that he knew the whereabouts of some of these people associated with ISI and LeT, while his brother knew the details of others.
The five-time MLA also said that the weapons taken from (LeT and ISI) were used in the murder of Umesh Pal and two policemen in February this year. “I know the places where the weapons have been kept. These places do not have house numbers. If you (police) take me and my brother together, we can identify these places,”
