Former Indian Member of Parliament Atiq Ahmed and his brother were shot dead on live television on Saturday night. Ahmed was answering questions from the press in the Indian city of Prayagraj when the brothers were brutally shot dead at close range, the BBC reports. It was when 61-year-old Atiq Ahmed stopped to answer questions from journalists, on his way to a doctor’s appointment, that the perpetrators suddenly opened fire. Ahmed, who has been jailed for kidnapping since 2019, died instantly along with his brother Ashraf who was also at the scene. Just days earlier, Atiq Ahmed’s teenage son was shot dead by police, writes the BBC further. Stated that they were journalists According to local media, the perpetrators claimed to be journalists, and that they were carrying both cameras and microphones. According to the BBC, it is a total of three perpetrators who arrived at the scene on motorcycles and then fired the shots. They were arrested shortly afterwards by the police. “We wanted to kill Atig Ahmad and his brother Ashraf with the aim of completely wiping out the Atiq-Ashraf gang and making a name for ourselves,” the perpetrators allegedly told police, according to The Times of India. Atiq Ahmed is also suspected of a number of other crimes, including murder and extortion. Common occurrence In recent years, a large number of people suspected of crimes have been killed while awaiting trial in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where Prayagraj is located. Often it has occurred in clashes with the police, something that human rights organizations worldwide consider to be extrajudicial executions. See the dramatic images from the crime in the player above.
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