With the four-day police custody of the three — Lovelesh Tiwari, Mohit alias Sunny and Arun Kumar Maurya — who allegedly shot dead gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf failing to unearth the conspiracy, interrogators are now looking for a “possible missing handler" of the trio, police sources told CNN-News18.
Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by the three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on April 15, when police personnel were escorting them to a hospital in the Shahganj police station area in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj for a checkup.
#BreakingNews | Atiq-Ashraf murder case updates: As the police remand for the accused shooters comes to an end, interrogators now have more of a reason to suspect a 'missing handler'@pranshumisraa | @anjalipandey06 | #AtiqAhmed #AshrafAhmed pic.twitter.com/K7OjypP38Z— News18 (@CNNnews18) April 24, 2023
The three have been charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and under the Arms Act. They were sent back to Pratapgarh jail on Sunday night.
“During the interrogation, the trio kept stonewalling the attempts to unearth the deeper conspiracy," said sources.
“Their claims of getting the pistols from a gangster killed in December 2021 is one such effort. They gave no convincing answer as to when, where and how they met and came together as a team," said sources.
As part of the investigation, the police reached a hotel where the shooters allegedly stayed using their fake Aadhaar cards. “There was one more room dubiously booked on a fake ID, thus fueling the possibility of a missing common link between the three," said sources.
The police are now seriously considering a lie detector or polygraph test request, they added.
#BreakingNews | CCTV visulas of Bareilly jail emerge where Guddu Muslim met Ashraf; he planned murder in jail@pranshumisraa @pri_kandpal shares more details@aayeshavarma | #UmeshPalCase pic.twitter.com/gwb7Y0B7Yl— News18 (@CNNnews18) April 24, 2023
CRIME SCENE RECREATED
The UP Police on Thursday recreated the crime scene outside the hospital in Prayagraj where Ahmed and Ashraf were shot dead.
Members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the forensic team visited the area outside Colvin Hospital to understand the sequence of events.
The policemen who were escorting Ahmed and Ashraf during the shootout were also called to the spot.
The three shooters were not brought to the crime scene.
PLEA SEEKS INDEPENDENT PROBE
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on April 28 a plea seeking an independent probe into the killing of Ahmed and Ashraf. The plea, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, has also sought an inquiry into the 183 encounters that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.
Tiwari mentioned the matter for urgent listing on Monday before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha. He told the bench that his plea was slated to come up for hearing on Monday, but it has not been listed.
“Since five judges are not available, some cases in which dates were given have not been listed. We will try to list this on Friday (April 28)," the CJI said, adding, some apex court judges are down with Covid, while some others are indisposed due to other reasons.
The Uttar Pradesh Police had recently said that it has gunned down 183 alleged criminals in encounters in the six years of the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government and this included Ahmed’s son Asad and his accomplice.
With PTI Inputs
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