The two Judicial Commissions set up by the Uttar Pradesh government over the killing of mafia-turned-politicians Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj on April 15, 2023 and other three encounters by police related to killing of lawyer Umesh Pal have given clean chit to the state police machinery.
Reports of both the Judicial Commission were tabled in the UP Assembly yesterday.
The 5-member Judicial Commission ptobibg into the killing of Atiq and his brother clearly stated that ,”No role of the state or police has been found in the murder of former MP and notorious mafia Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf at Colvin Hospital in Prayagraj on April 15, 2023.”
After this massacre, a five-member Judicial Inquiry Commission constituted by the state government under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, Justice (Retd) Dilip Baba Saheb Bhosale.
Other members of the Commission were former Chief Justice of Ranchi High Court Justice ( Retd) Virendra Singh, Retired HC Judge Arvibd Kumar Tripathi( II), Retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni and retired IPS officer Subesh Kumar Singh.
The report has blamed the uncontrolled behavior of the media for the incident. Besides, many suggestions have also been given to control the media in future to prevent such reoccurrence.
The Commission said in its report that no connection, clue, material or position of the police machinery or the state machinery was found in the incident of murder of Atiq and Ashraf or getting them killed.
The murder of both of them was not a premeditated act or due to negligence at the behest of state or police officials.
“Evidence shows that the incident occurred suddenly within 9 seconds. At that time the reaction of the policemen present at the spot was normal. They did not have time to save both of them, catch or kill the attackers. The entire incident happened within a few seconds,” it said.
The commission said in its conclusion that the police had to lose a lot due to the deaths of Atiq and Ashraf. Police had to recover Arms and ammunition, which were Pakistan made, were from them( Atiq-Ashraf).
Apart from this, relations with terrorist organizations, arms suppliers of Punjab and Kashmir and relations with ISI were yet to be ascertained. Due to the death of both, many such questions remained unanswered.
These questions might also have been thoroughly interrogated by the NIA or any other major investigating agency. The murder of both ended the hopes of the investigating agencies and the police of getting answers to these questions and taking the serious investigation to its logical conclusion.
During the investigation, the Commission recorded the statements of 87 witnesses and took hundreds of documents on record.
The Commission found that Atiq and Ashraf themselves had encouraged media persons to approach and talk to them. Despite the presence of heavy police force, the three attackers misused the media’s privilege of mingling with them and shot dead Atiq and Ashraf.
The three attackers took advantage of the trust that both of them had placed on the media by shooting them dead in public in front of the media. Due to which the policemen were stunned and surprised. During this time, a policeman Man Singh was also injured.
According to the Commission, this horrific incident was recorded by the media, which was broadcast live on television networks. This would bring tremendous notoriety to the attackers.
The attackers have also told this during police interrogation. From this the objective of the attackers cannot be denied. The commission found that it was impossible for the policemen to plan the shooting and carry out the live killing of Atiq and Ashraf on national television.
The Commission also found that there was continuous coverage by the media during the transit of Atiq to Sabarmati Jail and Ashraf to Bareilly Jail. There was a gathering of media at the police station where both were kept. Even during the recovery of evidence, media persons kept following the police team.
Meanwhile, a separate 2-member Judicial Commission led by former Allahabad High Court Justice( Retd) Rajiv Lochan Mehrotra in his report, tabled in the state assembly, said that Atiq Ahmed’s aides Arbaz and Vijay Kumar Chowdhary alias Usman were killed in retaliatory firing by police in self-defence in Praygaraj on February 27, 2023, and March 6, 2023, respectively.
Similarly, Atiq’s son Asad and his aide Ghulam were killed in retaliatory firing by police in self-defence in Jhansi on April 13, 2023.
The other member of the commission was retired Director General of Police (DGP) Vijay Kumar Gupta.
All the four people killed were prime accused in the sensational killings of lawyer Krishna Kumar Pal alias Umesh Pal and his two gunners in Prayagraj on February 24, 2023.
The Judicial Commission report says that all the oral and documentary evidence compiled on the file and after inspection of the scene of occurence of the three incidents, the Commission is satisfied that in the above three cases, police had an encounter with the accused in which the firing was initiated by the accused and the police had given them sufficient opportunity to surrender themselves and the police opened fire towards the accused only in self- defence which resulted in the death of the accused.
“This act of the police parties comes under the right of self-defense given to them by law…Therefore, Commission is of the view that the incidents of the above three encounters are real and beyond doubt. It is also clear that none of the police parties involved in the encounter encroached on the right of self- defense. During the inquiry, no malice, personal interest, conspiracy or fault of the policemen was found,” it further says.