The entire operation to kill Ahmed was planned by Sunny Singh.
The three men who shot and killed gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, and his brother Ashraf, were inspired by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, sources have said.
The three killers were identified by the police as Lovelesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh and Arun Maurya. They came posing as journalists and shot Ahmed and his brother at point-blank range while they were speaking to reporters in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj.
According to sources, the shooters made some big disclosures during their interrogation. The entire operation to kill Ahmed was planned by Sunny Singh who watched interviews and videos of Bishnoi. Singh reportedly got heavily influenced by Bishnoi's communally charged speeches and dreamt of a "big kill" like that of musician Sidhu Moose Wala who was gunned down allegedly by members of Bishnoi's gang on May 29 last year.
Singh is the most dangerous of the three men who shot Ahmed with more than a dozen cases registered against him. It was Singh who brought Tiwari and Maurya together to carry out the shootout, sources have said.
Ahmed and his brother were murdered around 10 pm on Saturday. The killings were caught on camera as journalists with mics were following the two brothers who were being taken to a hospital for a medical check-up. The attackers, all in their twenties, shouted "Jai Shri Ram" slogans before being overpowered by the police.
The three were sent to judicial custody for 14 days after they were produced in a court over the weekend. They were initially kept in Prayagraj's Naini Jail but were transferred to Pratapgarh Jail over security concerns on Monday.