Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad was killed in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) team in Jhansi on Thursday.
Ahmed’s son Asad was wanted in the killing of lawyer Umesh Pal. Asad was killed along with another accused Ghulam. Police recovered weapons from both the deceased.
“Asad and Ghulam were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj and were carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh each. They were killed in an encounter with a UP STF team,” said Special Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar.
Visuals showed two bodies lying beside a motorbike at the site of the alleged encounter. An ambulance later took them away.
The encounter comes a day after Atiq Ahmed, in an emotional appeal to reporters asked the Yogi-Adityanath-led state government to spare his family.
“I am totally reduced to dust, but please don’t trouble the women and children of my family now,” gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed told reporters from inside a police van on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier announced “mafiaaon ko mitti me mila denge (the mafia gang will be reduced to dust)”.
Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead in February at his residence in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. He was shot seven times by an unidentified man while getting out of the backseat of a Hyundai Creta SUV in Prayagraj.
Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, Asad, Ghulam and others.
After the encounter, Jaya Pal thanked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the administration.
“Whatever they have done is right. He (the CM) has punished the killer of his daughter’s husband. I express my gratitude. He is like a father. Justice has been done,” she said, adding she hoped strict action would be taken against other accused.
When asked against who else she wanted action, she said, “That I leave to the government. The government is giving me justice.”
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya congratulated the Uttar Pradesh Police and the STF for the action.
“Nobody will touch you if you don’t commit a crime. And nobody will be spared if they Commit a crime,” he told PTI. He said this was a BJP government and not an SP government and criminals would be spared.
The FIR in the Umesh Pal murder cases was lodged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
Atiq Ahmed is also an accused in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case.
