Tragic Incident: Former Indian Lawmaker and Brother Fatally Shot Live on TV

On Saturday night in Prayagraj city in India, a former politician named Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were killed by three men pretending to be journalists. They did it while the two siblings were being escorted by the police to get a medical checkup. The whole ordeal was broadcast live on television.

The men gave up right away when the police showed up after the shooting. One of them even shouted “Jai Shri Ram”, which is a phrase used by people who want Hindus to have more power than Muslims.

Since 2017, India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party is in-charge of Uttar Pradesh. During this period, over 180 people that had criminal charges against them were killed by police officers in Uttar Pradesh – something that human rights organizations are thinking could be unlawful murders.

After a shooting happened on Saturday, the government made it illegal for more than four people to gather in one place at the same time and they also disconnected internet access on phones across Prayagraj city. Additionally, the government hired a judge who retired to investigate this incident. According to Police Officer Ramit Sharma, three people were pretending to be reporters when they arrived on motorbikes.

“The shooters got close to Atiq and his brother under the pretense of filming a video. Then, they shot at them from close range. Both brothers were hurt on their heads from the bullets. It all happened within a couple seconds,” he said.

The incident was filmed by multiple people and shared on social media platforms, as well as shown on local TV channels while they were being taken to the hospital.

A video showed a man pointing a gun to Atiq Ahmad’s head. After he was knocked down, the assailants fired multiple times at both of them even after they were on the ground.

Atiq Ahmad is 60 years old and he went to jail in 2019 because he kidnapped Umesh Pal, who had given evidence against him related to the murder of an elected official back in 2005. Unfortunately, Umesh Pal was killed sometime this year.

On Thursday, police shot and killed two people — Atiq Ahmad’s son and another man. These two were suspected to have caused the death of someone named Pal.

Before this incident happened, Mr. Ahmad had asked India’s Supreme Court for help because he felt like his life was in danger from some government people from Uttar Pradesh. But instead of helping him, the court only told his lawyer to ask the local state court for help.

Atiq Ahmad was a politician from India and held the state lawmaking seat for four times in total. In 2004, he was then elected to be part of India’s Parliament from Uttar Pradesh’s Phulpur constituency, a place which was previously represented by Jawaharlal Nehru who is the first Prime Minister of India.

He had over 100 criminal cases filed against him and became one of the first politicians from Uttar Pradesh to receive punishment through the strict Gangster Act in late 1980s. He also had a good reputation as people saw him as some sort of “Robin Hood” since he used to help out financially many families who are struggling with poverty.

People also disagreed with him because he used his political power to build a company involved in real estate and were accused of taking other people’s property against their will.

The opposition parties thought it was not safe that people had been killed and felt like the government was trying to scare them.