(Combines related stories)
Police patrolling was intensified on Sunday in Prayagraj’s Chakiya area where gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s house is located even as the Uttar Pradesh police tightened security across the state, a day after Atiq and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been issued in all districts of Uttar Pradesh and internet services remain shut in Prayagraj district as part of the security measures.
The brothers, both jailed in Prayagraj, were in handcuffs when they were killed in full view of camera crews around 10 pm. The horrifying visuals were circulated widely on social media platforms and television channels. 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 the shooting.
A police officer said the three assailants, who were arrested immediately after the incident, had joined the group of mediapersons who were trying to get sound bites from Ahmad and Ashraf.
A policeman was injured in the incident as a bullet hit his arm, the officer said, adding that a journalist was also hurt after he fell during the commotion that followed the shooting.
Video footage showed a man thrusting a gun at Atiq Ahmad’s head as he talks to reporters and the former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP collapsing. The footage also showed the three assailants firing at the brothers even after they had fallen.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Ahmad and Ashraf were taken away from the spot as tension gripped the area after the sensational killings.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination is yet to begin.
“We are waiting for the directives from the administration (to begin the post-mortem). At present, the bodies are kept in the mortuary. They were brought here last night,” an official requesting anonymity told PTI.
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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Sunday that criminals should be given the harshest punishment, but it should be according to the law of the land and playing with the rule of law for any political purpose is not right for democracy.
Without taking names, in a tweet in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi said the law of the country is written in the Constitution and this law is paramount.
“Whoever does this, or gives protection to those who indulge in such an act, should also be held responsible and the law should be strictly enforced on that person,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
It should be the endeavour of all of us that the justice system and the rule of law should be supreme in the country, she added.