Atiq Ahmed, a politician with a criminal background, and his brother Ashraf were shot dead by three individuals posing as journalists while they were being taken for a medical examination while in police custody in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
The incident occurred in front of media cameras, and the shooters were seen surrendering to the police at the spot. The shooters were immediately apprehended, and a police constable sustained a minor injury during the incident.
Lavlesh Tiwari, Sunny, and Arun Maurya, the three shooters, were pretending to be media personnel and were carrying media ID cards with the name of a local channel. A forensic team reached the spot after the incident, and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister called for a high-level meeting.
The state has been put under Section 144, and additional security forces have been deployed in the area. A three-member judicial panel has been set up to investigate the incident.
Ahmed had been jailed in 2019 for kidnapping, and his recent petition claiming threats to his life by the police had been denied by the Supreme Court. The opposition parties criticised the incident as a security lapse, and activists have accused the police of carrying out extrajudicial killings.
