Atiq Ahmed murder case: The sensational murder of mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother on April 15 continues to make headlines almost a week after the incident. As part of the probe, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday recreated the crime scene where Atiq and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in police custody.
Besides this, the judicial committee constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government also visited Prayagraj to understand the sequence of events leading to the murder of the two. During the encounter, the policemen who were taking both the miscreants along were also called on the spot. While talking to the media, the police said that recreating the crime scene is likely to provide important clues in the ongoing investigation and based on this, the accused can be further interrogated.
STF team detained the friends of shooter Lavlesh
Meanwhile, the STF team also detained three friends of Lavlesh Tiwari, the main accused in the sensational murder case, from Banda railway station on Thursday. According to reports, the three detainees coached Tiwari to behave like real journalists before joining a group of media persons at the hospital where the miscreants were gunned down. Police said the three men, who work for a local news website, showed Tiwari the ropes of reporting and helped him buy a camera.
Search en route to Nab Shaista
Besides, the search for Atiq’s wife Shaista Parveen continued on Thursday as police raided several places. The UP police has also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on the gangster’s wife. Earlier this month, Shaista had filed a bail application in the court saying that she has been falsely implicated in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Five police personnel suspended
The sensational killings have led to the suspension of at least five police personnel who were taking Atiq and Ashraf to Colvin Hospital in Prayagraj. According to reports, the suspended police officers include Station House Officer (SHO) of Shahganj police station Ashwani Kumar Singh. The other four officers include two inspectors and two constables.
political ‘war of words’
Meanwhile, a political “war of words” has also started regarding the slain gangster Atiq Ahmed. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday lashed out at the Congress after releasing 40 star campaigners including the name of Rajya Sabha member Imran Pratapgarhi. The BJP claimed that Pratapgarhi, a poet-turned-politician, was a close friend of Atiq Ahmed and called the slain gangster his “guru” and brother. Union minister Shobha Karandlaje, convenor of the BJP’s Karnataka election management committee, alleged that Pratapgarhi used to write poems in praise of Ateeq, who used to participate in his ‘mushairas’.
However, the Congress has defended the party’s move to appoint Pratapgarhi as a star campaigner for the upcoming Karnataka elections. Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh told the media, “Imran Pratapgarhi is the president of our party’s minority cell and he will come. What’s wrong with that? We are not calling a person who has committed a crime or is behind bars.”
Atiq-Ashraf’s murder
It is worth mentioning that on Saturday night in Prayagraj, mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were murdered in the presence of the police. The incident took place when the police were taking them to a medical college in the district. Three people attacked the miscreants by posing as media persons. They have been identified as Lavlesh Tiwari (22) resident of Banda, Mohit alias Sunny (23) resident of Hamirpur and Arun Maurya (18) resident of Kasganj. All of them allegedly had a criminal background.
(with inputs from agencies)