In a murder that was seen on live television on Saturday, a former legislator in India’s parliament who had been convicted of abduction was shot dead with his brother while police were accompanying them for a medical checkup.
Intense video of the guys being slain was carried on television and posted on social media. Atiq Ahmed, a former politician, has his turban blasted off as a shooter is seen leaning over police shoulders to put a weapon at his temple.
A fraction of a second later, his brother Ashraf Ahmed was shot.
Another video taken by newsmen shows a single shooter shooting repeatedly at the corpses of two brothers as they lay on the ground.
The two victims passed away in a matter of minutes, and police immediately captured three guys they believed to be the murderers.
According to media accounts, the attackers pretended to be journalists. After the shooting, one turned himself in while police arrested the other two suspects.
The two brothers were being transported, shackled, from a hospital in Prayagraj city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening. They were supposedly the leaders of a local criminal outfit.
The alleged shooters yelled slogans from Hindu religion after the killing.
A police officer was hurt in the assault.
The Uttar Pradesh government prohibited any gatherings of more than four persons across the whole state out of concern for the likelihood of violent unrest after the murders.
According to a senior police source, “the state government imposed restrictive orders after the killings of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed, members of a sizable mafia involved in murder cases and land grabbing.”
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not licenced to talk with the press. “We don’t want any form of protest to gain momentum,” he added.
A judicial investigation into the deaths has been requested by the state administration, which is controlled by the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Atiq Ahmed’s kid was killed by police last week in Jhansi city. He had been sought for in connection with a murder case that was the subject of a larger investigation into a land mafia that operated in Uttar Pradesh.
Over the last six years, police in Uttar Pradesh have murdered more than 180 suspected criminals in encounters.
The killing of his ex-party member while in police custody, according to the leader of the opposition Samajwadi Party, proved that the governing Bharatiya Janata Party had failed to impose law and order in Uttar Pradesh.
Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi party tweeted, “When someone can be killed in firing openly amidst the security cordon of the police, then what about the safety of the general public?”
Ahmed served as a representative for Samajwadi and afterwards the local Apna Dal party until losing an election in 2014.
