A day after mafia leader-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's son Asad Ahmed was killed in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh, the latter has revealed the details of 'Operation Jhansi' that unfolded on Thursday evening.
Besides Asad, his accomplice Ghulam was also shot dead in an exchange of fire with the Uttar Pradesh Police. Both were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case.
According to Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), Asad Ahmed had left Prayagraj for Lucknow after he gunned down Umesh Pal, a witness in former MLA Raju Pal murder case. Asad then moved to Kanpur, Meerut before heading for Delhi. He then reached Jhansi four days ago. The plan was to escape to Madhya Pradesh.
The STP, a 12-member squad formed to nab Asad after the Umesh Pal murder, already had Jhansi on their radar as Atiq Ahmed's aide Guddu Muslim was reportedly living there. Guddu, also an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, was living near the forest area leading to the Parichha power plant, a kilometre from where the encounter took place.
A small team was monitoring the area secretly with surveillance and technical assistance from headquarters. "On April 12, night activity at the hideout of Guddu Muslim was witnessed which alerted us and teams were stationed near the four routes," The Times of India quoted an official.
On Thursday around 12:30 pm, a team of officers were deputed for the face-off with Asad's gang while another was tasked with scouting potential escape routes to neighbouring districts. The first team intercepted Asad, who was on a bike along with Ghulam, to escape to Madhya Pradesh. Asad was reportedly in disguise.
"A five-member team led by DSP Navendu and another
a five-member team led by DSP Vimal Kumar Singh intercepted the two, but they opened fire and sped into the jungle. They were cornered near the power plant and the police asked them to surrender. But the duo started shooting again. The two were slumped to the ground when police retaliated," Special DG (law and order) Prashant Kumar told The Times Of India.
The officials said foreign-made weapons were seized from Asad and his aide. This included one British Bulldog Revolver .455 bore and Walther P88 7.63 bore pistol. They added that they had an informer in Atiq Ahmed's gang who told them about Asad's whereabouts.
Sophisticated foreign-made weapons were recovered from Former MP Atiq Ahmed's son Asad & his aide: UPSTF
— ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2023
Both were killed in an encounter yesterday by UP Police in Jhansi
(Pic credits - UPSTF's twitter handle) pic.twitter.com/Hp5KOzT4F1
The officials added that they had received a tip-off that Asad and Ghulam were planning to help escape Atiq Ahmed by attacking the police convoy that brought the gangster to UP for a court hearing in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Atiq breaks down
Atiq Ahmed, who was brought to the Prayagraj Court on Thursday, got the news of his son's encounter death while in court. The gangster broke down into tears on receiving the news.
Atiq is currently in Dhoomanganj Police Station in Prayagraj after Prayagraj Chief Judicial Magistrate court sent them to four-day police custody on Thursday.
The Uttar Pradesh Police chargesheet filed before the court mentioned a recorded statement of Atiq Ahmed wherein he claimed he had "no dearth of weapons because I have direct connections with Pakistan’s ISI and terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba."
"Weapons from Pakistan are dropped on the Punjab border with the help of drones and local connection collects them. Terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir get weapons from this consignment. If you take me with you, I can help you recover that money and arms and ammunition used in the incident," the chargesheet said citing Atiq.
