Global Courant 2023-04-16 19:57:00
LUCK, India –
A former Indian lawmaker convicted of kidnapping and charged with murder and assault has been shot dead along with his brother in a dramatic attack broadcast live on TV in northern India, officials said Sunday.
Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were on their way to a medical checkup at a hospital under police escort on Saturday night when three men posing as journalists attacked the two brothers at close quarters in the Uttar Pradesh state of Prayagraj.
The men quickly surrendered to police after the shooting, with at least one of them chanting “Jai Shri Ram” or “Heil Lord Ram”, a slogan that has become a rallying cry for Hindu nationalists in their campaign against Muslims.
Uttar Pradesh has been governed by India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party since 2017. Since then, more than 180 people have been killed in India’s most populous state in so-called “police encounters”, which human rights groups say are often extrajudicial killings.
Following Saturday’s shooting, authorities have banned the gathering of more than four people in the entire state and have also cut off internet access on mobile phones in the town of Prayagraj. The government also ordered a judicial inquiry led by a retired judge.
Police officer Ramit Sharma said the three attackers arrived on motorcycles posing as journalists.
“They managed to get close to Atiq and his brother under the pretext of taking a byte and fired at them at close range. Both suffered bullet wounds to the head,” he said. “It all happened in seconds.”
Multiple videos from Saturday’s shooting went viral on social media. It was initially broadcast live on local TV channels as the brothers spoke to the media as they were taken to hospital.
The footage shows someone pulling a gun close to Atiq Ahmad’s head. As he collapses, his brother is also shot. The video shows assailants repeatedly firing at the two men after they both fell to the ground.
Atiq Ahmad, 60, was jailed in 2019 after being convicted of kidnapping a lawyer, Umesh Pal, who had testified against him as a witness in the 2005 murder of a legislator. Pal was also killed in February.
On Thursday, Atiq Ahmad’s teenage son and another man, both blamed for Pal’s death, were killed by police in what was described as a shootout.
Two weeks earlier, Atiq Ahmad had petitioned India’s Supreme Court for protection, saying there was an “open, direct and imminent threat to his life” from Uttar Pradesh state officials, according to media reports. But the court refused to intervene and instead asked his lawyer to approach the local court.
Atiq Ahmad served as a state legislator four times and was also elected to the Indian Parliament in 2004 from Phulpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, once represented by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
He faced more than 100 criminal cases and was one of the first politicians from Uttar Pradesh to be prosecuted under the harsh Gangster Act in the late 1980s. He also cultivated a Robin Hood image among mostly Muslim voters and helped many poor families financially.
But he was also criticized for using his political clout to develop a syndicate that was an active player in the real estate market amid allegations of forcible property seizures and other crimes.
Opposition parties criticized the killings as a security breach and accused the government of ruling out of fear.
