UP: The UP Police on Saturday brought the mortal remains of mafia-politician Atiq Ahmed's son, Asad Ahmed and his close aide Ghulam to Prayagraj. Both Asad and Ghulam were shot dead in an encounter by UP's STF team on Thursday.
Atiq Ahmed's plea to attend son's last rites
Atiq Ahmed had been pleading with officials to let him attend the last rites of his son, Asad Ahmed. His mortal remains were finally brought to Prayagraj today and were likely to be taken straight to the graveyard, where he was buried next to his grandfather. The body was not allowed to be taken to their ancestral home in Prayagraj's Kasari Masari village to avoid crowd build-up.
While Asad's relatives from the maternal side decided to accept the body and perform the last rites as per Islamic rituals, Ghulam's family refused to accept the mortal remains, saying that they abide by the law and cannot accept the body of a criminal.
"20-25 close relatives of his (Asad) family are here. Ghulam's body has been taken to another place for cremation. Asad's maternal grandfather is here and he is carrying out the process of cremation of Asad," said Satish Chandra, SP, Crime, Prayagraj.
Why was Asad Ahmed killed?
As per sources in the police, monitoring the investigation, Atiq Ahmed had put Asad in action for Umesh Pal's murder, who was the prime witness in the killing of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005. As per Atiq's plan, Asad's role was to just supervise from inside the SUV.
However, the 19-year-old defied his father's instructions and was caught on CCTV chasing Umesh Pal and shooting at him. As police were able to access multiple CCTV camera footage from the spot, and could recognize Asad, it was clear that Atiq Ahmed was behind the sensational murder.
The hunt to track Asad Ahmed
The hunt to track Asad Ahmed took the 12-member team of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) to various places - including Prayagraj, Kanpur, Noida, Delhi, and even Nepal - in nearly 50 days as Asad had been frequently changing his location. Asad was in Jhansi for the last four days before the encounter as he had planned to attack the police convoy to free his father Atiq after the gangster had said that he fears being encountered.
The STF team was continuously in search of Asad and Ghulam. A 12-member team of UP STF personnel finally cornered the two near Jhansi's Parichha Dam, and following a gun battle between 12:30 pm and 1 pm on Thursday, the two were killed.
Asad and Ghulam's Plan
A report by NDTV, however, stated that Asad and Ghulam's plan was not to break Atiq free as the security was tight. The report quoted its sources as saying that the duo had planned to fire a few rounds at the convoy to sensationalize the case to embarrass the Uttar Pradesh government.
