"Failure of police": SP leader Shivpal Yadav slams Yogi govt on Atiq Ahmed killing

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 26 : Hitting out at the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the brazen killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in police custody, Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav on Tuesday said the incident represented the failure of the state government.

"If a murder is committed in police custody, then is it not a failure of the state government and the police?" Yadav told reporters here.

Atiq and Ashraf were killed on April 15 night while being taken for a medical checkup. They were shot dead at point-blank range by three miscreants posing as mediapersons.

The incident took place in the presence of heavy police presence.

The three assailants Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lovelesh Tiwari turned themselves in immediately after and were arrested at the scene.

Notably, on Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to list on April 28 a plea seeking an independent expert committee to inquire into the killing of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in police presence in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj.

The plea called for the committee to be formed under the chairmanship of a former Supreme Court judge.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud seeking an urgent hearing of his plea.

The CJI said that many matters could not get listed as five judges were not available as they were unwell.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari mentioned in SC that his plea sought a probe into the extra-judicial killings in Uttar Pradesh.

Further, in his plea, Tiwari sought to constitute an independent expert committee under the chairmanship of a former Supreme Court judge to inquire into the killing of Atiq and Ashraf.