India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—UP police’s Special Task Force claimed on Thursday to have gunned down former Samajwadi Party MP and MLA Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad Ahmad in an alleged encounter. Another man named Ghulam, son of Maksudan, too, got killed.
Both were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj. Reportedly, they were carrying a reward of Rs. five lakh each.
Umesh Pal was killed on February 24, outside his house in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad.
Atiq had approached the Supreme Court last month alleging that he and his family members could be gunned down by UP police in a fake encounter. Atiq Ahmed, who has more than 100 criminal cases registered against him, is jailed since 2019.
His apprehension about his family members came true today while the UP police claimed that his son was killed in a return fire.
STF, Jhansi, claimed that both Asad and Ghulam started firing when they were cordoned off by the police which was followed by return fire. According to the STF, both were killed in the shoot-out.
Umesh Pal was an important witness in the Raju Pal murder case. Raju Pal was an MLA of the Bahujan Samaj Party who was killed in 2005. Atiq was made an accused in this case.
Atiq is the main accused in the Umesh Pal murder case and is currently lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad. Incidentally, today was his hearing in Prayagraj court and he was brought here from Gujarat this morning. He too has expressed apprehension of being ‘encountered’ by UP police.
According to media reports, ADG of UP STF, Amitabh Yash, confirmed today’s ‘encounter’ and claimed foreign-made arms were recovered from them.
He told media persons that the STF team were after them for one and a half months. He claimed that a few days back they slipped off for five minutes and ran away from the reach of STF.
Media reports suggest that Asad was hiding in Delhi with his uncle Ashraf’s help. It said that Delhi police’s special team had arrested a few of Asad’s friends who gave important clues about him.
Allegedly after the murder of Umesh Pal, Atiq’s son Asad had decided the routes for the shooters to flee.
UP police have been infamous for extra-judicial killing in the so-called encounters. The death of the murder accused Vikas Dubey in an alleged overturning of a police vehicle was also quite controversial.
Though Asad’s father Atiq had expressed his fear of being killed in an alleged encounter by the UP police, it was his son who actually got gunned down.
This is the second time that Atiq has been brought to Prayagraj. Last time he was brought there was on March 26 in the full media glare. He was awarded a lifer in the Umesh Pal murder case.
As the court ordered a fitness check of the vehicle, the convoy taking him to Prayagraj took more time.
UP police had constituted a 30 members team to bring Atiq to Prayagraj. This team had the latest firearms, bullet-proof jackets, and body-worn cameras. Atiq’s prison van had a biometric lock. This time too he had expressed his apprehension that he would be ‘encountered’.
