Chased them to catch alive, gunned down after being shot back: FIR on UP encounter
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Prayagraj: The First Information Report prepared by the UP police over the encounter killing of Asad Ahmed and Ghulam says that the police tried to catch them alive but were forced to shoot them down after they shot at the police with the intention to kill.
In the FIR, it was mentioned that the police had instructed their car driver to overtake the motorcycles in which the two accused were trying to flee. It was further stated that they had loudly commanded them to stop. However, the accused had refused to comply and attempted to take a turn onto a dirt road to escape, despite the fact that another team had already surrounded them.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), it was stated that Asad Ahmed and Ghulam had taken cover, started abusing the police, and fired at them with the intention to kill. The police claimed that they stopped their vehicle, took cover, and walked into the firing range of the accused to try to capture them alive "without caring for their safety".
However, they had to shoot back as the accused started firing indiscriminately. The police added that the firing from the other side stopped after a while when they inched closer and found Asad and Ghulam injured.
The FIR further stated that they immediately sent the accused to a hospital in two separate ambulances, as they still showed signs of life. However, it was later found out that they had died. The police had collected pistols, bullet shells, live bullets, motorcycles, and other evidence from the spot.
On April 13, the police received information from an informant, who was part of Atiq Ahmed's gang, that Asad and Ghulam were in Jhansi. The police then started laying a dragnet to catch them. Asad and Ghulam were spotted approaching on two unnumbered Bajaj Discover motorcycles from Chirgaon town in Jhansi, after which the police chased them for 1.5 km.
Asad's body will be received by his maternal family and taken to a family graveyard at Kasari Masari in Prayagraj for burial in the afternoon or early evening. Asad was the son of the notorious gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed. Atiq and his brother Ashraf were brought to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court in Prayagraj the same morning that his son was shot dead.
It was reported that Atiq Ahmed, a notorious gangster and politician, was convicted by an MP-MLA court on March 28 and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in connection with the abduction of Umesh Pal, who had been shot dead outside his home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj on February 24.
The CCTV footage of Umesh Pal's murder showed indiscriminate firing and a bomb blast, which led to Atiq Ahmed and his family coming under scrutiny. Asad Ahmed, Atiq's son, who had no prior criminal record, was seen chasing Umesh Pal with a gun in hand in the footage. Although Asad was not named in the initial FIR lodged after the incident, his name came up during the investigation, according to the police.
Atiq Ahmed has been convicted in the same case and has more than 100 cases against him spanning the past 43 years. Both Asad and Ghulam had a reward of ₹5 lakh on their heads.
