Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf killing: Supreme Court seeks detailed probe report from UP govt

A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta also sought a report from the UP government on the police encounter of Ahmad's son Asad in Jhansi. Asad was killed in an encounter by a special task force (ST) team of the UP Police on April 13.

The Supreme Court on Friday (April 28) directed the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report on steps taken after the killing of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj.

A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta also sought a report from the UP government on the police encounter of Ahmad's son Asad in Jhansi. Asad was killed in an encounter by a special task force (ST) team of the UP Police on April 13.

Two days later, Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as media persons when they were being taken to a medical college in Prayagraj for a health check-up under police escort.

The top court was hearing a plea, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, who has sought an inquiry into the 183 encounters that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.

Umesh Pal and his police security guards Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh were shot dead on February 24 outside Pal's home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj.

Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.

On March 21, police said they recovered more than Rs 74 lakh cash and illegal weapons from a partially demolished office of Ahmed in the Chakia area on the information provided by two of his five accomplices arrested on the same day, officials said.

They said the front part of his office had been already demolished by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) long ago using a bulldozer.

(With inputs from PTI)