The matter will be heard on April 24.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a plea seeking probe into the killings of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf. The matter will be heard on April 24.
The petition has also demanded an inquiry into the extrajudicial killings in Uttar Pradesh.
Ahmed and Ashraf, in handcuffs, were shot at by three men posing as journalists while they were addressing media persons while being taken by the police to a hospital for medical examination in Prayagraj on Saturday.
The last rites of Ahmad’s son Asad, one of the two men killed by the police in an encounter on April 13 in Jhansi, were performed hours before the killing of the former MP and his brother.
A petition filed in the Supreme Court has sought an independent expert committee to investigate the killings.
“Issue guidelines/instructions to protect the rule of law by constituting an independent expert committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge to probe the 183 encounters that have taken place since 2017, as directed by the Special Director General of Police (Law), Uttar Pradesh and order) and also to investigate the custodial killings of Atiq and Ashraf.”
Referring to extra-judicial killings, the petition said, “Such actions by the police pose a serious threat to democracy and rule of law and lead to a police state.”
“In a democratic society, the police cannot be allowed to be the ultimate judge or to become a punishing institution. The power to punish is vested only in the judiciary.”
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday claimed that 183 criminals, including Asad and his aides, have been killed in encounters during Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s six-year rule in the state.
The three killers of Ahmed and his brother Twenty have been identified by the police as Lavlesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh and Arun Maurya. The attackers, all in their twenties, shouted “Jai Shri Ram” before being overpowered by police.
All three were sent to judicial custody for 14 days after being produced in court over the weekend. He was initially kept in Prayagraj’s Naini Jail, but was shifted to Pratapgarh Jail on Monday over security concerns.