UP Police forms SIT to probe Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf killings; assailants shifted to Pratapgarh jail

Director General of Police, RK Vishwakarma, also told The Indian Express that as per the initial investigation, all the three accused – – Lavlesh Tiwari (22), Mohit alias Sunny Puraney (23) and Arun Kumar Maurya (18) — “knew each other well”.

Meanwhile, UP Police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the murder of Atiq and Ashraf. The UP Police also formed a separate team of three supervisors to monitor the SIT probe.

“The investigation is being carried out by the SHO of Shahganj police station… In order to ensure impartial and qualitative investigation, this investigation will be carried out by a SIT,” said a statement issued by Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma.

The three-member SIT will be headed by Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Police Satish Chandra, who will be assisted by ACP (Kotwali police station) Satyendra Prasad Tiwari and Inspector (Investigation Cell of Crime Branch) Om Prakash.

The special team of supervisors, on the other hand, will be headed by Additional Director General (Prayagraj Zone) Bhanu Bhaskar. The two other members of the team of supervisors are the Director of a Forensic Science Laboratory and the Police Commissioner of Prayagraj. The DGP said the team of supervisors has been formed to ensure “qualitative investigation and time-bound action”.

Just after the murders, the UP government had constituted a three-member judicial commission to look into the matter and submit its report within two months. The Commission is headed by Justice (retired) Arvind Kumar Tripathi. Former DGP Subesh Kumar Singh and former district judge Brijesh Kumar Soni are its members.

According to police sources, the investigators are looking into the CCTV footage from around the Dhoomanganj police station, where Atiq and Ashraf were kept in custody, to corroborate the assailants’ alleged claim during questioning that they had been following the gangster and his brother from the time they learnt that police had brought them to Prayagraj.

They also want to know how the accused procured the Turkey-made pistol used in the crime.

While police said that the three accused claimed to have stayed at the railway station after reaching Prayagraj, they have also started looking into the records of hotels and guesthouses .

An FIR filed by Rajesh Kumar Maurya, Dhoomanganj SHO, at Shahganj police station stated that the three men have been booked under IPC sections related to murder, attempt to murder, and sections of the Arms Act and Criminal Law (Amendment) Act.

Atiq and Ashraf were on a four-day police custody remand in the Umesh Pal murder case when they were shot dead by the three men in front of mediapersons and police personnel.