People were evacuated first, those who arrived in the police car fired shots; reveals eyewitnesses of the UP shooting

Lucknow: Residents of the area have made allegations against the UP Police in the shootout and murder of five-time MLA and MP Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf. Locals suspect that the murder may have been planned by the police. They say that the assailants were brought to the spot by the police. Local channel 'UP Tak' reported the news quoting local residents.

Locals say that the police had reached the spot and evacuated the road of people and vehicles even before the shooting happened. They said that the police immediately removed the assailants from the place of the incident quickly after the murder happened.

"The police were the first to arrive at the spot. They came and evacuated the people from the spot where the incident took place. They told everyone to move vehicles and cleared the road. Then vehicles came from both sides. Atiq and Ashraf were in one of them. Four young men were in the other car and the police took them inside the gate. I think they are people from STF. When they got out of the police car, they had the journalists' ID cards around their necks. They went straight and shot Atiq and Ashraf while the police were watching. The police fled from the scene of the shooting right after. Those who came with the police called 'Jai Shri Ram' while firing. Immediately, the four people who fired shots were loaded into the police car and taken away quickly. Police and STF jointly conducted the operation. Now the police will take away the poor people here. This is a pre-arranged encounter killing," said one of the local residents to UP Tak Channel.

The reaction of the local residents is spreading widely on social media.