'Someone is complicit': Supreme Court pulls up UP government on Atiq Ahmad's murder
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court also sought a status report on the 183 ‘encounters’ that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since March 2017.
The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Yogi-Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government over the murder of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in police custody on April 15, observing "someone is complicit" during the hearing.
The two-judge bench of the top court including Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a detailed status report, covering the details of the encounter killings, the status of investigation, charge sheets filed and the status of trial, within six weeks on 183 "police encounters" in the state.
"There were 5 to 10 people guarding him (Atiq)â€æHow can someone just come and shoot? How does this happen? Someone is complicit," news agency PTI quoted the top court bench as saying.
According to the state police data, as many as 183 people have been killed in police encounters since the arrival of Yogi Adityanath in power in March 2017.
The court also issued a notice to the UP government on a plea by Aisha Noori, sister of Atiq Ahmed, who had moved the top court seeking direction for a probe into the murder of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf.
Earlier, in an affidavit of July 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government submitted before the top court that the state is "leaving no stone unturned in ensuring a thorough, impartial and timely investigation" into the murder of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf.
The affidavit also outlined the reforms that were initiated by the UP government to modernise police stations and to implement all the guidelines issued by the Justice BS Chauhan Commission pertaining to the installation of CCTV cameras in the police stations.
ATIQ AHMED MURDER CASE
Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on April 15 while being taken for a medical examination in police custody.
He and his brother were in Uttar Pradesh police custody for several crimes, including the murder of Umesh Pal, a witness in the 2005 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal murder case. Atiq was an accused in the Raju Pal murder case as well.
