Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has praised the killing of Asad Ahmad – the son of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad – in an encounter with UP Police’s Special Task Force in Jhansi. Asad and another fugitive – Ghulam – were wanted in connection with the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal and authorites had announced a ₹5 lakh reward on each.
He declared Asad and Ghulam’s killing ‘historic’ and boasted of a ‘message’ to other criminals – that chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s government is in charge.
“I congratulate UP STF for this action. Police fired in retaliation after they were fired upon by them. It is a message to criminals that this is the ‘new India’.”
READ | Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad shot (dead) in encounter: 5 things about him
“It is the Yogi government in UP, not the Samajwadi Party in power which gave protection to criminals. This is a very historic action by UP Police… era of criminals is over… (they) must surrender,” the deputy CM declared.
Asad’s father is Atiq Ahmad, the gangster turned politician who was today brought before a court in UP’s Prayagraj – from his jail in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad – and sent to extended judicial custody even as his son was killed.
READ | Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad, wanted in Umesh Pal murder case, killed
Atiq Ahmad is also an accused in the killing of Umesh Pal, who was a witness in the 2005 killing of Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal and was shot dead outside his home in Prayagraj on February 24.
With input from ANI
