Atiq Ahmed Murder: Bloodstains, Knife Found At Slain Gangster's Office In Prayagraj

A senior police official said that the matter would be investigated in detail since some incident has apparently taken place here after the death of Atiq, his brother and son.

File Photo

Prayagraj: A police team doing a regular inquiry at the office of dead gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad in Chakia found a blood-stained knife and garments in one of the rooms. Blood stains were also found on the stairwell. One of the rooms also had a 'dupatta' with blood smears and bangles strewn about. Already, a piece of the office has been dismantled. Traces of blood found in the room are said to be fresh.

Forensic teams have been called in to collect the blood samples and to ascertain how old they are. A senior police official said that the matter would be investigated in detail since some incident has apparently taken place here after the death of Atiq, his brother, and his son.

Three Shooters Visited Lucknow Before Killing

Lovelesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh, and Arun Maurya, the three shooters who gunned down mafia politician Atiq Ahmad and his younger brother Khalid Azeem a.k.a Ashraf here on April 15, had arrived in Lucknow before travelling by bus to Prayagraj. During questioning by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), the three revealed this. They did not, however, reveal the cause for their travel to Lucknow.

Investigators examined footage from over 40 CCTV cameras positioned near the hospital to track the perpetrators' movements from the hotel to the hospital to see whether anyone else was assisting them. Officials added that no more suspects have been identified as of yet. The SIT also examined room 203 of the hotel where the assailants stayed.

Supreme Court To Hear Plea on April 28

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a petition seeking an independent investigation into the deaths of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on April 28. The petition, filed by counsel Vishal Tiwari, also requests an investigation of the 183 encounters that have occurred in Uttar Pradesh since 2017. Tiwari brought the matter up for urgent hearing before a bench comprised of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha on Monday.

Referring to Atiq's killing, the plea said, "Such actions by police are a severe threat to democracy and rule of law and lead to a police state." "In a democratic society, the police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or to become a punishing authority. The power of punishment is only vested in the judiciary," the plea submitted.