A sessions court will be framing charges after August 16 against the three accused who allegedly shot dead gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 in Prayagraj. The two were speaking to the media when at least three men started shooting at them at close range and the shootout was caught live on Hindi news channels which were broadcasting the gangsters being taken to the hospital under heavy police protection.
According to district government counsel (criminal) Gulab Chandra Agrahri, though this date was fixed for framing of charges against the accused, when the accused appeared before the court through video conferencing and requested that they wanted to engage their own counsel in the case. "Accepting their request, sessions judge Santosh Rai said that if they do not engage their counsel by August 16, they will be provided state counsel to represent them in court proceedings," he added.
On July 13, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had submitted a charge sheet against the three assailants -- Lavlesh Tiwari (22), Mohit Singh Shani (23), and Arun Maurya (18) -- who are currently lodged at the Pratapgarh district jail. The SIT, which was constituted to investigate this murder case, submitted the charge sheet before Chief Judicial Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Gautam after completing its investigation for the case registered under Section 302 (murder) and several other sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act.
The trio had allegedly shot dead Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 at around 10 pm, when they were being taken for a medical examination at Colvin Hospital of Prayagraj, as a mandatory legal requirement. The assailants posed as journalists and shot the brothers from point-blank range. The shooters had immediately surrendered after the killing and were arrested.