Atiq Ahmad murder: Owaisi demands resignation of UP CM, SC-monitored probe

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday attacked the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh over the killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the incident and urged for a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.

Alleging that the BJP was running the government in Uttar Pradesh by "rule by gun" and not rule of law, Owaisi said this had been continuing ever since the BJP government was formed in 2017.

A day after Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh, the Hyderabad MP termed the killings cold-blooded murder.

"You see the way the weapons were fired. It is cold-blooded murder and they (those involved in the killings) are professionals. How much is the role of BJP's Uttar Pradesh government...and who are these people who in the presence of police and media resorted to cold-blooded murder? Who told them? What is their background and why didn't the police stop them? And for this it is needed that Supreme-Court-monitored investigation should be done into this incident," Owaisi told reporters here.

Condemning the incident, the AIMIM chief said it is not only Indian Muslims, but all those citizens of the country who believe in rule of law and Constitution, "all of them feel weak today".

He charged that there was radicalisation in the majority community. "Who are these people? Those who were involved in yesterday's killings if they are not related to the Uttar Pradesh government...I am raising a question...I don't know if they are related or not. And how did they got radicalised? How come they got these weapons?," Owaisi asked.

"These are highly radicalised elements. Who are these people...after firing (they) raise religious slogans. What will you call them if not terrorists? Will you call them 'Desh Bhakts'? Will you garland them?," he asked and slammed those who were celebrating the incident.

Owaisi said the entire responsibility lay on the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

"We demand the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. The Supreme Court should suo-motu take cognisance of the matter and form a team to investigate into the incident and there should be no officials from Uttar Pradesh in that team. I plead to the Supreme Court," Owaisi said.

The team should carry out investigations in a time-bound manner and it should report to the Supreme Court, he said and demanded that all those police personnel who were present there (during the incident) be removed from service.

Atiq Ahmad (60) and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup.