With Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf being shot dead by assailants in Prayagraj on Saturday, three of the family's four members named in the Umesh Pal murder case have been killed.
Ten people were named in the FIR registered at the Dhoomanganj Police Station of Prayagraj on February 25, a day after Umesh Pal was killed. Atiq Ahmad's son Asad was also named as a shooter alongside six others described as shooters.
Apart from Ahmad and Ashraf, four others named in the FIR -- Asad, Arbaaz, Vijay Chaudhary alias Usman, and Ghulam -- have also been killed.
Atiq's wife Shaista Parveen and three other alleged shooters are absconding. In the FIR registered after the murder of Umesh Pal on February 24, who was a key witness in the 2005 MLA Raju Pal murder case in which Atiq Ahmad was also an accused, police lodged an FIR against at the Dhoomanganj Police Station of Prayagraj.
Of the seven people seen in a CCTV footage that captured the Umesh Pal killing, Arbaaz, who allegedly drove the SUV carrying the attackers, was killed in an encounter on February 27.
Shooter Vijay Chaudhary alias Usman was killed in an encounter in Prayagraj in March 6. Asad Ahmed and Ghulam were killed in another encounter with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on April 13 in Jhansi.
The remaining three shooters -- Guddu Muslim, Sabir and Armaan -- are absconding. Shaista Parveen is also on the run.
Atiq Ahmad, a former SP legislator, had earlier expressed apprehension that he could be killed by the Uttar Pradesh Police while being brought to Prayagraj from the Ahmedabad prison, where he was lodged in connection with another case.
When he was being taken to the city for Thursday's court appearance, he made a similar remark.
"I am totally reduced to dust, but please don't trouble the women and children of my family now," the 60-year-old told reporters from inside a police van.
After the Umesh Pal murder, Akhilesh Yadav had flagged the law and order issue in the state assembly.
In the heated debate, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had accused the Samajwadi Party of sheltering gangsters like Atiq Ahmad and said the government will ground the mafias to dust ("mittee me mila denge") The bodies of Atiq Ahmad and is brother Ashraf's body will be buried in thir native village, officials said.
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