Three people have been arrested for the shooting.
A man accused of a double murder was shot dead inside a courtroom in western Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor this afternoon as court proceedings were on. The shooting occurred as the prisoner, Shanawaz Ansari, was being produced in front of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at the Bijnor district court.
The three men who took out pistols inside the courtroom and shot the prisoner were chased and arrested by policemen present inside the court.
Local reports suggest that such was the intensity of the firing inside the courtroom that even the judge and other court staff had to duck for cover.
An advocate who was inside the court said everyone dove to the floor as soon as bullets were fired.
"I was inside the court. A client of mine had a bail application. Suddenly these three men stared shooting. We ducked for cover. I saw one man fall to the ground. I even saw a policeman take a bullet. We just took a dive to the floor and stayed there till the cops rescued us. I think it was all very filmy," said advocate Atul Sisodia.
Shahnawaz Ansari was accused in the double murder of Bahujan Samaj Party politician Haji Ahsan Khan and his nephew in May.
"Shahnawaz Ansari had surrendered in Delhi. He was produced in court today and the Delhi Police had brought him here. Haji Ahsan Khan's son and two of his accomplices shot Shahnawaz inside the court. We chased all three and have arrested them. One employee of the court is injured and has been taken to hospital," Sanjeev Tyagi, a senior police official told NDTV.
Visuals from the court complex showed the UP police surrounding the courtroom and bringing out the prisoner's body in a gunny bag and putting it in a police vehicle. Hundreds and lawyers and people were also seen in the court complex.
50-year-old Haji Ahsan and his nephew were shot dead on May 29 by two men at their office in Bijnor's Najibabad town. Mr Ahsan was in charge of the Bahujan Samaj Party's Najibabad assembly seat and his nephew was a party worker too. The local police later said the killings were not politically motivated but over a business rivalry.