SIT files charge sheet against 3 in Atiq Ahmad, Ashraf murder case

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a 2,056-page charge sheet against three assailants who shot dead gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his younger brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf outside a Prayagraj hospital in full public view, a police officer said.

The charge sheet against the three accused -- Lavlesh Tiwari, 22, Sunny Singh, 23, and Arun Maurya,18, -- was filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Prayagraj, Dinesh Kumar Gautam, on Thursday. 

No lawyers were present to represent the accused.

The three assailants had a criminal past and they planned to murder Atiq and Ashraf to earn fame and money, a senior police officer said, citing the charge sheet.

"They used sophisticated firearms, which were provided to Sunny Singh by Delhi-based gangster Jitender Mann alias Gogi to eliminate his rival Tillu Tajpuria," the officer added.

After perusal of records, the court took cognisance of the charge sheet and fixed July 14 as the next date of hearing in the case. 

The judicial remand of the three accused will also end on Friday and they are likely to be produced before the court through video-conferencing.

Atiq and Ashraf were gunned down by the trio outside the Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital around 10.30 p.m. on April 15 when they were being taken for a court-mandated medical examination while in police custody.

The 2,056-page charge sheet -- including 2,000 pages of case diary, besides post-mortem examination reports, photographs, crime scene map, FIRs, report of recreation of the crime, and ballistic report of firearms used in crime -- was filed under Section 173 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

CJM Gautam said there was adequate base to take cognisance of the crime. 

He ordered the police to produce the accused before the court on July 14. 

He also instructed to provide the copy of the charge sheet to the accused and transfer the case for trial to the sessions court.