Asad Ahmed, the son of gangster Atiq Ahmed, will be buried in Prayagraj at the family burial ground after being gunned down by Uttar Pradesh police in an encounter. Both Ahmad and his close aide, Ghulam, were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, and Ahmad was last seen attacking Pal in CCTV footage. Police have been changing the location of Ahmad’s body handover since Friday morning. Meanwhile, Ahmad’s aide Ghulam’s family has refused to accept his remains, citing respect for the law. Atiq, who is in jail in connection with the same case, will not be allowed to attend his son’s funeral.
Asad was Atiq’s third son, and the eldest son came into fame in 2018 when he kidnapped a property dealer in Lucknow, while the second son, Ali, faces attempted murder and extortion charges. Both surrendered last year. Atiq has two more sons, Azham and Aban, who are minors and lodged in a juvenile centre.
Many opposition leaders have criticised the encounter, calling it suspicious. Indian Express reports that Asad’s killing is encounter number 183 since the Yogi Adityanath government first took charge in March 2017.
According to Times Now, after Pal’s murder, a team of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force was tasked with tracking down Asad. The team chased him for nearly 50 days as he kept changing locations frequently between Prayagraj, Kanpur, Noida, and Delhi. In Jhansi, Asad had planned to attack the police convoy to free his father, Atiq. The STF team finally cornered the two near Jhansi’s Parichha Dam and killed them after exchanging gunshots.
Since the encounter and the resurfacing of CM Yogi’s hit slogan of ‘Mitti mein mila denge’, his star value has risen. There is a massive demand for him to join the BJP’s election campaign in Karnataka for the upcoming assembly elections. Another accused in the case, Guddu Muslim, is hiding in Rajasthan’s Ajmer and is now on STF’s radar.
