Murder of Atiq, Brother: Former SC Judge Questions Police Role

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In an interview with prominent journalist Karan Thapar at The Wire, Justice  Madan Lokur said the whole thing leading up to the killings was “extremely mysterious” and “very strange”

Team Clarion

NEW DELHI — Former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Madan Lokur on Monday raised several serious questions over the role of the Uttar Pradesh Police in the killing of former Samajwadi Party MP Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf calling it “shocking”.

On Saturday night, the brothers were shot dead by three shooters chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ when the police were taking them for a medical checkup. The miscreants, posing as media persons, opened fire at the duo when they were talking to the media. The shooting was captured live on various news channels. The three shooters are reported to have a criminal background and one of them is said to be associated with Bajrang Dal in Uttar Pradesh.  

Atiq and Ashraf were slain a couple of days after the killing of Atiq’s son Asad in a police encounter in Jhansi.

In an interview with prominent journalist Karan Thapar at The Wire, Justice Lokur said that the whole thing leading up to the killing of Atiq and Ashraf was “extremely mysterious” and “very strange”.

“First, why did the police not take the killers into police custody and send them to judicial remand? Don’t they want to/need to investigate? Second, were the police armed? If they were, why did they not fire back? If they weren’t, why not? Atiq Ahmed was clearly a man under threat. Third, how did the killers know Atiq and his brother were being taken to a hospital at 10:30 pm? And how did they know the media would be there and they could masquerade as media persons? Were they tipped off by someone? Fourth, what was the need to take them for a medical examination at 10:30 pm? Why couldn’t they have been taken in the morning, particularly as their police custody only ended at 5 pm on Sunday?” asked Justice Lokur.

He also wondered why were the media persons roaming around late at night. Who were they tipped off about the movement of Atiq and his brother? How did the shooters reach there late at night? How did they come to know about Atiq and Ashraf being taken for a medical checkup?

Justice Lokur noted that there could be a purported connection between the police and the killers.

“The killers had a lot of information. They made use of it. They used it to target Atiq and Ashraf. And there is much more than meet the eyes,” he said.

Justice Lokur also said Supreme Court should have been more cautious while disposing of Atiq’s petition in which he said that his life was in danger.

Besides Justice Lokur, there are others who have raised questions over the killings. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal described the incident as “the art of elimination” and raised eight odd points.

The points are: 1) 10 pm for medical checkup, 2) No medical emergency, 3) Made victims walk, 4) Open to media?, 5) Assassins unknown to each other at the spot?, 6) Weapons above 7 lakhs, 7) Well-trained to shoot, 8) All 3 surrendered.

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