Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) : The last rites for gangster Atiq Ahmed's son Asad, who was killed in an encounter yesterday, will be conducted in Prayagraj here today. The officials are making arrangements for handing over Asad's body to his family members after conducting the post-mortem. It is yet to be confirmed whether or not Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf Ahmed and Asad's brothers, who are all in jail, will take part in the funeral rites.
The post-mortem of the dead bodies of Asad and shooter Ghulam took place late on Thursday night in Jhansi Medical College. The bodies of both will be brought to Prayagraj today. The jailed don Atiq Ahmed will not be able to attend the funeral, sources said. Atiq took help from terrorist Abu Salem to save Asad. Abu Salem had provided a place for Asad to stay in Pune, sources said.
Asad Ahmed along with his aide Ghulam was killed in the encounter by the UP STF near Pariccha dam in Jhansi, UP. Both the deceased gangsters have been on the run for the last 50 days after they allegedly gunned down lawyer Umesh Pal and two policemen in Prayagraj on February 24. Umesh Pal was the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal in which Atiq Ahmed was an accused.
The encounter of Asad Ahmed, one of the main accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, triggered a political slugfest between the ruling BJP in UP and the opposition parties. The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (MIM) launched a blistering attack on the BJP government.
Whereas, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lavished praise on the UP Special Task Force (STF) for the encounter killing of Asad Ahmed and asserted that their government would not rest till the mafia is eliminated in their State. Yogi further said that the era of the gangsters in UP is over and that the law and order in the state will be upheld at any cost.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav called Asad encounter 'fake' while BSP supremo Mayawati demanded an impartial enquiry into the killing. MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of 'encountering' the constitution as a whole and of undermining the rule of law all over the country. TMC leader Mahua Moitra slammed the Yogi government, saying that utter lawlessness has crept into UP and that the BJP is spearheading jungle raj.
After the Umesh Pal murder, a massive search was launched for the accused across several states. The UP STF team involved in this hunt and the eventual encounter was led by Deputy SP Navendu and Dy SP Vimal. The police said that the STF team opened retaliatory fire leading to the death of the gangster duo. Foreign-made weapons - a British Bull Dog revolver and a Walther P88 pistol - were recovered by the police from the spot of the encounter deaths.
