Lucknow, 13 April: Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, has lambasted Uttar Pradesh’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party for using “fake encounters” to deflect attention away from “real issues.”
Yadav, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, took to Twitter immediately after state police reported the death of Asad Ahmad, the son of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad, in an encounter in Jhansi district. “By staging fake encounters, the BJP government attempts to divert attention away from the real issues. The BJP has zero faith in the courts. Today’s and recent confrontations should be fully probed as well, and the perpetrators should not be spared,” Yadav said.
“(The government) has no right to decide what is right or wrong,” he added. Asad Ahmad was murdered less than a month before the UP municipal body elections.
Mayawati, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, demanded a high-level probe into the encounter death of mafioso-turned-gangster Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad and an accomplice, both sought in the Umesh Pal murder case, on Thursday.
“Many types of discussions are underway on the killing of Atiq Ahmed’s son and another person in a police encounter today,” the BSP head added, without commenting on the event. People believe that their fears of a rerun of the Vikas Dubey event have been realised. As a result, a high-level inquiry is required so that the complete facts and truth of the incident can be made public,” Mayawati stated.
In Jhansi, Asad and another suspect in the same case, Ghulam, were shot dead, and police found two foreign-made firearms. Asad and Atiq Ahmad are both charged with the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal.
Each carried a ?5 lakh prize on their heads. A .455 calibre British Bulldog revolver and a 7.63 bore Walther P88 pistol were recovered from them.
