Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called the death of Atiq Ahmad's son a "fake encounter" and accused the Bharatiye Janata Party (BJP) of diverting attention from the real issues by doing all these things.
Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and an accomplice, Ghulam, was killed in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday in Jhansi.
Both were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case and were carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh each. Atiq meanwhile, was produced in Prayagraj court on Thursday where he reportedly broke down after hearing about his son's death.
But Akhilesh did not believe in the police's version and slammed the BJP govt instead.
"By doing fake encounters, the BJP government is trying to divert attention from the real issues.
"The BJP does not believe in the court at all. Today's and recent encounters should also be thoroughly investigated and the culprits should not be spared," Yadav tweeted in Hindi.
Meanwhile, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised the state's Special Task Force (STF) which killed Asad Ahmad.
According to news agency ANI, the CM chaired a meeting on law-and-order in the state after news of Asad Ahmad's killing and congratulated the Director-General of Police, the Special Director-General (Law and Order) and the team of cops involved.
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya also congratulated the UP STF and called the encounter "historic".
“I congratulate UP STF for this action. Police fired in retaliation after they were fired upon by them. It is a message to criminals that this is the 'new India'.
"It is the Yogi government in UP, not the Samajwadi Party in power which gave protection to criminals. This is a very historic action by UP Police... era of criminals is over... (they) must surrender," he was quoted by news agency ANI.
Umesh Pal Murder Case
Atiq Ahmad, his son Asad, brother Ashraf, Ghulam and several others are accused in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder case of then BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two police security guards were shot dead outside his home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj area on February 24 this year. Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, Asad, Ghulam and others.
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