'Now criminals, gangsters cannot...': Yogi Adityanath's warning after Atiq Ahmed's murder

Adityanath claimed that the state was infamous for riots but from 2017 till 2023, not a single riot has happened and neither has a curfew been imposed in the state.

Lucknow: Days after the killing of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday warned the mafia in the state and said they cannot threaten anyone in the state under the present BJP government.

Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were gunned down in full media glare and amid heavy police presence in Prayagraj district last week. The incident followed the death of Atiq's fugitive son Asad in an exchange of fire with the UP Special Task Force (STF) in Jhansi district earlier.

CM Adityanath made the statement while addressing the MoU signing programme at Textile Park in state capital Lucknow on Tuesday. Claiming that the state was infamous for riots earlier, the CM said, "Between 2012 and 2017, more than 700 riots took place in Uttar Pradesh. However, from 2017 till 2023, not a single riot has happened in UP and neither has curfew been imposed in the state."

"Earlier, the state suffered from an identity crisis. However today, criminals and mafias are in a crisis. Now gangsters and mafia cannot threaten businessmen over phone. Uttar Pradesh today promises a better law and order situation," he added. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list on April 24 the plea seeking to constitute an Independent Expert Committee under the chairmanship of a Former Supreme Court judge to inquire into the killing of Atiq and Ashraf, amid police presence.

Atiq Ahmed's killers had a long connection with the crime and in their desire to become "popular", they executed the killings on April 15 while the gangster-turned-politician and his brother Ashraf were in the custody of Uttar Pradesh Police in Prayagraj, sources said on Monday. Atiq and Ashraf were killed by three assailants, who posed as mediapersons, while the gangsters were being taken for medical checkups at Prayagraj medical college.

The killers, identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lavlesh Tiwari, "wanted to become gangsters" and hatched a plot to kill Atiq, sources said earlier. The police said they were in the process of ascertaining if someone else was also involved in the plan to kill Atiq and Ashraf. All three youths were arrested by the police at the scene of the shooting.

Atiq was shot at least eight times, with bullet injuries found in his head, neck and chest, according to preliminary results of an autopsy conducted on his body after his sensational murder caught on camera outside a hospital in Prayagraj on April 15. The Uttar Pradesh government ordered a judicial probe in the wake of the killings.