Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that the encounter with Atiq Ahmed's son Asad was just the government's way of flexing its power. Yadav called the encounter 'fake' and said that there should be a thorough investigation into the incident. The Samajwadi Party chief said: "The BJP does not believe in the court at all. Today's and other recent encounters should also be thoroughly investigated and the culprits should not be spared."
Akhilesh Yadav also said that Uttar Pradesh has become a state of fake encounters. He also raised the Vikas Dubey and Vinod Yadav encounters to make his point. He said the police were staging such encounters under pressure from the government to save their jobs.
Asad, son of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, and Ghulam, son of Maksudan, wanted by the police for their alleged involvement in the murder of Umesh Pal murder case in Prayagraj, have been killed in an encounter. Both were killed during a police operation in Jhansi. The operation was led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Navendu and DySP Vimal from the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF). The police recovered sophisticated weapons that were made in a foreign country. More information about the incident is still being gathered. There was a reward of Rs 5 lakh on their heads.
"I am totally reduced to dust, but please don't trouble the women and children of my family now," gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed had told reporters from inside a police van on Wednesday.
UMESH PAL'S MOTHER THANKS CM ADITYANATH
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been briefed about the encounter. The CM has sought a report from the Special Task Force (STF) in the Jhansi encounter case and is personally monitoring the matter.
The mother of Umesh Pal on Thursday expressed her gratitude to CM Yogi Adityanath and for delivering “justice”. "I thank CM Yogi ji for serving justice and I appeal to him to give us justice going ahead as well. We have full faith in CM," Shanti Devi, mother of Umesh Pal, the lawyer who was killed in Prayagraj earlier this year, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "This is a tribute to my son. I thank the Chief Minister and the police department which discharged their duties," she added.