With the killing of son Asad in the UP police encounter Thursday and the death of Atiq Ahmed and brother Ashraf on Saturday night, don Atiq’s family has been, as a senior police officer said, “almost wiped out.” Wife Shaista Parveen, who carries a reward of Rs 50,000 is absconding, and Atiq’s two sons Umar and Ali are in jail. His two minor sons are in the Children Protection Home under close watch of the police. In all, six from Atiq’s side including himself, son Asad and aides Arbaz, Vijay Chaudhary alias Usman and Ghulam Hassan have been killed since the February 24 daylight murder of Umesh Pal and two policemen. Atiq and Ashraf were killed by assailants today whose identities haven’t been confirmed – the remaining were killed in police encounters. The first encounter killing was of Arbaz on February 27 in Prayagraj. He was reportedly the driver of the killers' vehicle on February 24. This followed by the “encounter killing” of Usman on March 6 again in Prayagraj. Asad and Ghulam were shot dead by police in Jhansi on April 13. Guddu Muslim, Armaan and Sabir, all aides of Atiq, are on the run, each carries a reward of Rs 5 lakh. Atiq and Ashraf had flagged that they faced threats to life in courts – from the lower court in Prayagraj, all the way to the Supreme Court. Indeed, a month before his son Asad and his aide were killed, Atiq had knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court for his protection in custody in the Umesh Pal murder case. Ahmed had argued that he faced threats to his life and that he had been issued threats. “The state machinery will take care of you,” the apex court had said allowing Ahmed’s lawyer to withdraw the plea.
