Prayagraj shocker: Timeline of how 3 men, posing as journalists, killed Atiq Ahmed, brother Ashraf (WATCH)

Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad (60) and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists during a media interaction on Saturday night in Prayagraj, leaving the nation stunned. 

Ahmed, a former SP MP, and his brother were brought to Prayagraj for a court hearing in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case and were remanded in police custody.

The last rites of Ahmed's son Asad, who was gunned down in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13, were performed here just hours before the shooting.

Also read: Atiq Ahmed, brother shot dead: UP CM Yogi Adityanath orders high-level inquiry; 17 cops suspended

Here's a look at a timeline of events that took place:

At around 9:50 pm, Uttar Pradesh police personnel were escorting Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup. The brothers, both jailed in the city, were in handcuffs.

At around 10 pm, three unidentified men, posing as media persons and trying to get sound bites from Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf, fired a barrage of bullets and killed the two brothers in full view of camera crews.

Horrifying visuals of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf's killings were widely circulated on social media and television. Footage of assailants killing the two showed them shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' as the police tried to arrest them.

Video footage showed a man thrusting a gun at 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.

Police immediately arrested the three unidentified men. However, one of the cops got injured in the incident as a bullet hit his arm. A journalist was also hurt after falling during the commotion that followed the shooting.

The bullet-riddled bodies of Ahmed and Ashraf were soon taken away from the spot as tension gripped the area after the sensational killings. "We are looking into the incident. It is too early to say anything. We are yet to question the arrested men," a police officer said.

At 11:19 pm, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted about the killings of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf. "Crime has reached its peak in Uttar Pradesh and the criminals are unfazed. When someone can be shot dead amidst a police cordon, then what about the safety of the general public? An atmosphere of fear is being created among the public due to this and it seems that some people are deliberately creating such an atmosphere."

At 12:30 am, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath formed a three-member judicial commission to probe the killing of Ahmed and his brother. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been issued in all districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Politics erupts after Atiq Ahmed, brother shot dead; Akhilesh Yadav slams Yogi govt for crimes in UP

What happened earlier

Ahmed's son Asad and one of his accomplices were killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13. The last rites of Asad were performed at the Kasari Masari graveyard on Saturday amid heavy police security, with only a few distant relatives and locals present inside the burial ground.

Incidentally, Ahmed and Ashraf were being questioned by the Uttar Pradesh Police at the Dhoomanganj police station, around 3 km from the burial venue. Asked by reporters to comment on Asad's death, his uncle Ashraf said, "Allah has taken back what belonged to him."

Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder case of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal, and his two police security guards were shot dead outside his Dhoomanganj residence here on February 24. Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Ahmad, Ashraf, Ahmad's wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.

A police team from Uttar Pradesh brought Ahmed, who was lodged in the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, to Prayagraj on March 26 to produce him in a court in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case. 

On March 28, the court sentenced Ahmed and two others to life imprisonment in the kidnapping case. 

In 2006, Ahmed and his aides abducted Umesh Pal and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had got a complaint registered in this regard.

The Supreme Court had in April 2019 directed that Ahmed be shifted to a high-security jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault of Lucknow-based real-estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal while in jail.

Ahmed was named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the Umesh Pal murder case, police said. Among the most sensational murders in which Ahmed was allegedly involved was that of Raju Pal, the then BSP MLA who was shot dead in 2005.

Ahmed moved the Supreme Court for protection, claiming that he and his family have been falsely implicated in the Umesh Pal murder case and he may be killed in a fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police. 

(With inputs from PTI)