Atiq, Ashraf murders: SIT likely to file charge sheet by end of week

PRAYAGRAJ: A special investigation team (SIT) constituted to investigate the murders of gangster-politician brothers Atiq Ahmad and Khalid Azeem (Ashraf) is expected to file its charge sheet soon with the stipulated period of 90 days completing soon.

A senior police official said the charge sheet against the accused Sunny Singh, Lavlesh Tiwari and Arun Maurya had been prepared and would be filed in a court by July 15 latest. It may be noted that Atiq and his brother were shot dead while in police custody in full media glare on the night of April 15.

While the police are said to have included the statements of many persons, including the neighbours of the three accused, in the charge sheet, some pertinent questions regarding crime still remain unanswered.

While the document mentions the motive and past records of the assailants, the police investigation reportedly does not throw any light on who planned the murders or the role of a fourth person in the planning. Moreover, police, allegedly, don’t have any information on how the trio learnt to operate sophisticated firearms, which were used in the crime, and from where did they get a camera and microphone that they used to disguise themselves as media persons.

Official sources in the police department said the SIT carried out an intensive investigation and took statements of neighbours, relatives and friends of the three assailants. It even reportedly spoke to those who didn’t gel well with the assailants. Based on these statements, the assailants were described ‘aggressive’ in the charge sheet.

The assailants also reportedly have connections with criminal groups from western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi such as the Gogi and Sundar Bhati gangs, the officials said, adding the motive behind the sensational murders of Atiq and Ashraf in police custody was to earn fame and money. “After watching the media coverage of Atiq following the murder of Umesh Pal, the assailants planned to eliminate him and earn a big name for themselves,” the officials added.

The Zigana (semi-automatic) firearm, which was used in the crime, also did not provide many clues to police. Sunny Singh reportedly claimed, during his interrogation, that he was given the pistol by gangster Jitendra Gogi two years ago to eliminate the latter’s rival Tillu Tajpuria. Sunny, however, fled with the pistol when Gogi was gunned down at Delhi’s Rohini Court in 2021.

Besides the SIT, the state government has also constituted a judicial commission to inquire about the murders of Atiq and Ashraf. The judicial commission members include former Allahabad high court chief justice Dilip Baba Sahab Bhosle, former chief justice of the Jharkhand high court Virendra Singh, justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi, IPS Subesh Kumar Singh and former district judge Brajesh Kumar Soni.