Asad Ahmad Encounter: A day after gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and an accomplice Ghulam, were shot dead in an exchange of fire with the Uttar Pradesh Police near Jhansi, Ghulam's mother on Friday hailed the Yogi government for the action against the criminals and claimed that she had no idea that Ghulam used to work for notorious gangster Atiq Ahmed.
"The action taken by the government is absolutely correct"
Ghulam's mother on Friday said "the action taken by the government is absolutely correct." She further asserted that "all gangsters and criminals will take a lesson from this." "I had no idea that he (my son) used to work for gangster Atiq Ahmed. I will not receive his body, maybe his wife will receive it," says Khusnuda, mother of Ghulam who was killed in the encounter yesterday.
"We will not go to collect his dead body"
Rahil Sarkar, brother of Ghulam, claimed that the action taken by the police is correct. "He has done a very heinous act that we do not support. We will not go to collect his dead body. We have told our point to the police station chief. How can you support someone who acts like this?"
Asad and Ghulam's encounter
Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and an accomplice, both wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, were shot dead in an exchange of fire with the Uttar Pradesh Police near Jhansi on Thursday, officials said. The alleged encounter took place apparently at the time Ahmad was in a Prayagraj court, where he was presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in connection with the same murder and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. The court also allowed a five-day remand for the UP Police to question him.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have demanded an investigation into the Jhansi shootout, suggesting that the state’s Special Task Force staged a fake encounter. Two other men have been shot dead in separate encounters with police since February 24, when Umesh Pal, a key witness to a 2005 political murder, and two policemen deployed to protect him were killed by gunmen in Prayagraj.
“I am totally reduced to dust"
Atiq Ahmad, a former SP legislator, had earlier expressed apprehension that he himself could be killed by UP Police while being brought to Prayagraj from the Ahmedabad prison, where he was lodged in connection with another case. When he was being taken to the city for Thursday’s court appearance, he made a similar remark. “I am totally reduced to dust, but please don't trouble the women and children of my family now," the 60-year-old told reporters from inside a police van.
His son Asad Ahmad was caught on CCTV when Umesh Pal was killed and had been on the run for the past 50 days, police said.
(with inputs from PTI)
