Atiq-Ashraf murder case: Days after the sensational killings of mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda has threatened to carry out attacks on India to take revenge for the incident.
In its 7-page magazine, released by Al-Qaeda's propaganda media wing, the terror group termed both gangsters as "martyrs" and pledged to take revenge for their assassination. Further, the group also promised to "liberate Muslims."
Atiq Ahmed admitted to having links with ISI
During police questioning, Atiq had reportedly admitted that he had links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. As per an FIR registered at the Shahganj police station, Ahmed admitted to having links with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Police said Ahmed's statement was recorded on court orders.
"The ISI, using drones, used to drop weapons in Punjab, and someone linked to the ISI used to collect these arms and send some of them to LeT, some to Khalistan separatist organisations, and some weapons like .45 bore pistol, AK-47 and RDX were made available to me, and I used to pay for the same. People belonging to these organisations also used to come to my place. And, information gathered from their conversations suggested that they wanted to cause a major incident in the country," Atiq had told police, as per the FIR.
He also told police that he knew the whereabouts of some of these people associated with ISI and LeT, while his brother knew the details of others. According to Atiq, the weapons taken from (LeT and ISI) were used in the murder of Umesh Pal and two policemen in February this year.
Atiq-Ashraf killing
It should be mentioned here that Mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were killed in Prayagraj on Saturday (April 15) night amid police presence. The incident occurred when they were being escorted by police to a medical college in the district. Three men carried out the attack on the gangsters while posing as media persons. They were identified as Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda, Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj. They all allegedly had criminal backgrounds.
Crime scene recreated
Earlier on Thursday, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) also recreated the crime scene where Atiq and his brother Ashraf were shot dead while in the custody of the cops. In addition, the Judicial committee constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government also paid a visit to Prayagraj to understand the sequence of events leading to the murder of the duo. The policemen who were escorting both gangsters during the shootout were also called to the spot as part of the investigation.
