Tensions flared in the Chakia area of Prayagraj, the stronghold of former MP Atiq Ahmed, as locals pelted stones at Uttar Pradesh Police. The incident prompted authorities to convert the area into a high-security fortified zone. After the gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf were shot head in Praygraj on Saturday, prohibitory orders under section 144 have been imposed in Uttar Pradesh.
As per orders of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, police conducted late-night flag marches in all the sensitive areas. Security has also been beefed up around the house of Umesh Pal.
On Saturday, a thorough investigation into the shocking murders was ordered by CM Yogi. During a media interaction, Ahmed and his brother were shot dead at close range by three men who posed as journalists while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a medical examination.
Ahmed brothers, who were imprisoned in Prayagraj, were in restraints when they were killed around 10.30 pm in front of camera crews. The disturbing footage was widely circulated on social media platforms and TV networks.
After the Prayagraj incident, the chief minister convened a high-level meeting in Lucknow and ordered the probe.
Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf and his wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.
A police team from Uttar Pradesh brought Ahmad, who was lodged in the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, to Prayagraj on March 26 to produce him in a court in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case. On March 28, the court sentenced Ahmad and two others to life imprisonment in the kidnapping case.
In 2006, Ahmed and his aides abducted Umesh Pal and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had got a complaint registered in this regard.
The Supreme Court had in April 2019 directed that Ahmed be shifted to a high-security jail in Gujarat after he was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and assault of Lucknow-based real-estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal while in jail.
Ahmed was named in more than 100 criminal cases, including the Umesh Pal murder case, police said.
Among the most sensational murders in which Ahmad was allegedly involved was that of Raju Pal, the then BSP MLA who was shot dead in 2005.
Ahmad moved the Supreme Court for protection, claiming that he and his family have been falsely implicated in the Umesh Pal murder case and he may be killed in a fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
(With PTI inputs)