New Delhi: Days after the killing of gangster-turned-politicians Atiq and Ashraf Ahmed, the Supreme Court Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government why the vehicle carrying the brothers was not taken to the hospital directly. The state government informed the apex court that they have appointed a commission to look into the matter.
The apex court also directed the Yogi Adityanath-led government to submit a status report on the steps taken after the killings in Prayagraj, even as the bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta sought a report from the state government on the police encounter of Atiq’s son Asad in Jhansi.
Asad was killed in an encounter by a special task force (ST) team of the UP Police on April 13, two days before his father and uncle were killed.
The development comes as the top court is scheduled to hear a petition seeking to constitute an independent expert committee under the chairmanship of a former SC judge to look into the killings after three weeks.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, who has sought an inquiry into the 183 encounters that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.
Atiq and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range on April 15. They were shot by three men posing as media persons, who fired at them as they were talking to the media. The brothers were enroute a medical college in Prayagraj for a health check-up under police escort.
Agencies