The son of former MP and gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, who was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi on Thursday, had fired the first bullet, a senior police officer told NDTV on Thursday, refuting allegations of a staged killing.
Asad Ahmad and his associate Ghulam, who were wanted for the murder of a key witness in a 2005 case involving their father, were shot dead by the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police after they allegedly fired at the officers.
The STF chief, Additional Director General Amitabh Yash, told NDTV that Asad fired the first bullet at the police team that had been tracking him and his associate for the last 50 days.
"The gang had sophisticated weapons. They had killed a witness who was under protection from the UP police. And the message would have been very poor had we not brought them to justice soon. We had several near-misses when they had managed to flee," he said.
Denying allegations of a staged encounter, Mr Yash said that no encounter of the STF was fake and that they were ready for any inquiry. He also said that "big lawyers" come and defend members of the mafia in court, but the STF was a professional force that acted on credible intelligence and evidence.
"The STF is a very small unit of extremely dedicated people. It has been working for 25 years and won laurels. It works to eradicate organised crime from Uttar Pradesh," he said.
Mr Yash said that Asad and Ghulam were part of a gang led by their father, Atiq Ahmad, who is currently in judicial custody for the murder of Umesh Pal, a witness in the killing of former BSP MLA Raju Pal.
He said that the gang wanted to create fear among the people and that Asad was planning "something big" in Jhansi. He said that Asad had no plans to surrender, and that he changed phones and SIM cards frequently to evade arrest.
He also assured that Atiq Ahmad was totally safe in police custody and that there was no threat to his life. He said that the STF was committed to ensuring law and order in the state and that they would not spare any criminal, irrespective of their political affiliation or influence.
The encounter took place on Thursday morning when Asad and Ghulam were riding a motorcycle on the Jhansi-Kanpur highway. The STF team intercepted them and asked them to stop, but they allegedly opened fire on the police. The STF personnel retaliated and killed them in the exchange of fire. The police recovered foreign-made weapons from them.
The incident drew criticism from opposition parties, who alleged that the encounter was staged and demanded a probe.
Atiq Ahmad is a former MP from the Phulpur constituency and has over 90 criminal cases against him, including murder, kidnapping, extortion and rioting. He was shifted from Naini jail in Prayagraj to Sabarmati jail in Gujarat by the Supreme Court in 2019 after he allegedly assaulted a businessman inside the prison. He is also facing trial for the murder of Raju Pal, who was shot dead in 2005 allegedly by Atiq's brother Ashraf.
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