Atiq Ahmed killing: Two days after the sensational incident, one more letter petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the killings of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in the presence of police in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district.
As per the information, the letter petition has been moved by retired IPS officer Amitabh Thakur. In his petition, he has urged the top court to issue directions to the concerned respondents to take cognizance of the petitioner's representation and accordingly direct the State of Uttar Pradesh to transfer FIR against three shooters to the CBI.
The petitioner informed the apex court that time is of utmost importance in the particular case because there was a chance that the three accused might get killed in judicial custody and the truth would be lost forever.
What did the plea seek?
"Thus, there is an immediate need to act in the given case, as time is of immense value and the matter needs immediate and urgent attention. That despite these repeated pleas, nothing has been done by the State of UP. For all these reasons, in such circumstances, having no any officious and effective alternative remedy in these circumstances, considering the importance of the matter, this writ petition is being filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India," the petitioner said.
Petitioner Thakur also raised questions that how could such an incident take place in such alleged high security. "Why did the security seem to be slackened at the given point of time? Why were the media persons allowed to interact with men in police custody?" the plea questioned.
Why police remained almost complacent all through the process, he asked. He said that everything that seems to be related to Atiq Ahmed's murder seems "extremely sketchy, fishy, suspicious." It is also quite obvious that there can be a great possibility of the entire murder scheme being a state-sponsored exercise, where the high and mighty might be involved, for all kinds of nefarious purposes, the plea added.
1st plea into the incident filed on April 16
Earlier on Sunday (April 16), an advocate had moved a plea in the Supreme Court seeking an inquiry into the 183 encounters that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017. The plea also sought a constitution of an independent expert committee headed by a former apex court judge to probe the killings of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf. Recently, Uttar Pradesh Police claimed that it has gunned down 183 alleged criminals in encounters in the six years of the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government and this included Asad and his accomplice.
"Issue guidelines/directions to safeguard the rule of law by constituting an Independent Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court justice to inquire into the 183 encounters which had occurred since 2017 as stated by Uttar Pradesh Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) and also to inquire into the police custody murder of Atiq and Ashraf," the plea said.
Atiq-Ashraf killing
It should be mentioned here that Mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were killed in Prayagraj on Saturday night amid police presence. The incident occurred when they were being escorted by police to a medical college in the district. Three men carried out the attack on the gangsters while posing as media persons. They were identified as Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda, Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj. They all allegedly had criminal backgrounds.
(With ANI inputs)
