Atiq-Ashraf killing: Accused Lovelesh Tiwari’s friends detained in UP’s Banda

Three friends of Lovelesh Tiwari, the main accused in the sensational killings of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed, were apprehended by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda on Thursday, police said.

“The trio was caught at Banda railway station,” officials said. The SIT team has also arrived in Hamirpur and Kasganj to conduct additional investigations, they added. On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Police conducted raids in Kaushambi in search of Shaista Parveen, the wife of Atiq Ahmed.

“Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding. The operation lasted for about 2 hours. A drone camera was also used in the operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today,” Samar Bahadur, ASP, Kaushambi told ANI.

After his son Asad was killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi, Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were killed on April 5 night while being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj. Atiq Ahmed was charged with the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader’s murder, in February this year.

Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh, and Lovelesh Tiwari were among those detained. All three attackers were apprehended at the scene after they voluntarily surrendered. They were taken into police custody and questioned.

On Wednesday, a CJM court in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj remanded the killers of gangster Atiq Ahmed to four days in police custody. This comes after the Special Investigation Team requested in court that all three accused to be remanded for questioning. On April 16, the district court sentenced them to 14 days in judicial custody.

During the police remand, the accused will be questioned about the weapon used to murder Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 night, where they obtained the weapon, and who gave it to them.