NEW DELHI: A former Muslim MP and his brother, both accused of murder, were gunned down before TV cameras in Allahabad in police custody on Saturday. Both were in handcuffs.

Commonly described as “gangster-politician”, Atiq Ahmad, 60, and his brother Ashraf were shot point-blank by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction, Press Trust of India said.

It said the two were killed on the steps of a hospital in Prayagraj (the new official name for Allahabad) where they were being taken for a legally required medical checkup the day their police remand was getting over.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, regarded by the opposition as a Hindu extremist, has been accused of harsh action against Muslims, including bulldozing their homes and using such incidents to polarise society, a handy tool for getting votes.

Horrifying visuals circulated widely on social media, news channels

So-called encounter killings have become a feature of BJP rule of the populous state under his watch. Police said this week 183 suspects have been gunned down in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.

The horrifying visuals of the Saturday crime were circulated widely on social media platforms and television channels.

The last rites of Ahmad’s son Asad, who was killed in an alleged police encounter in Jhansi on April 13, were performed in Prayagraj just hours before the shooting.

The victims were brought to a hospital for a medical examination where three men posing as journalists approached them and opened fire, the Prayagraj police chief said.

The attackers have been held and are being questioned, he added. A police constable was also injured.

The UP CM has formed a three-member judicial commission to probe the killing.

Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi: “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.” Mr Ahmad, a former SP MP, and his brother were brought to Allahabad for a court hearing in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case and were remanded in police custody. Ahmad’s son Asad and one of his accomplices were killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13.

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 Feb 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.

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.

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

In 2006, Ahmad 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. Ahmad was named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the Umesh Pal murder case, police said.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2023