Lucknow, 26 April: The Uttar Pradesh government has filed a caveat before the Supreme Court in the case of mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf’s killing in Prayagraj, requesting the court to hear the state’s side before reaching a decision on the subject. Three men acting as journalists in the middle of a media engagement shot Atiq and Ashraf dead at point-blank range when police were transporting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup.
The caveat was submitted in the petition by attorney Ruchira Goel, who is an advocate on record for the UP government. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition requesting an independent investigation into the deaths of the mafia brothers on April 28.
The petition, filed by counsel Vishal Tiwari, also requests an investigation of the 183 encounters that have occurred in Uttar Pradesh since 2017. Tiwari brought the issue up for urgent hearing before a bench comprised of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha on Monday. According to the report, he told the bench that his appeal was supposed to be heard on Monday but had not been scheduled.
“Because five judges are unavailable, some cases with set dates have not been listed.We will try to list this on Friday (April 28),” the CJI remarked, adding that certain top court justices are indisposed owing to COVID-19, while others are unwell for other reasons.
The Uttar Pradesh Police recently said that it had killed 183 accused offenders in encounters during the six-year tenure of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government, including Ahmad’s son Asad and his accomplice. The petition filed before the Supreme Court requested the formation of an impartial expert committee to investigate the deaths of Atiq and Ashraf.
