‘2 hafte baad…’: Ashraf Ahmad shot dead days after he predicted death

On March 28, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s brother Ashraf had warned that he would be killed within two weeks. “Kisi bahane se do hafte baad tumhe jail se nikalenge aur nipta denge.

(You would be taken out of jail on the pretext of some reason and would be killed),” Ashraf had told reporters citing an officer when he was brought to Bareilly jail.

On Saturday (April 15), Ashraf and Atiq Ahmad were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup.

Ashraf had also said that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath understood his pain as fake cases were also filed against him.

“Allegations levelled against me are fake. The CM understands my pain as fake cases were also filed against him,” he told reporters sitting in a police van.

Ashraf had further claimed that the threat was given by a senior official whose name would be divulged to the chief minister, Chief Justice of India and also to the Chief Justice of Allahabad.

“This threat was given by a senior officer. I cannot tell his name, but if I am killed, then the closed envelope will reach the chief minister and Supreme Court Chief Justice and Allahabad Chief Justice, it will contain his name,” Ashraf said.

Ashraf was shifted to Bareilly jail while Atiq was being brought to Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail.

The brothers were held guilty in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case by Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj MP-MLA Court which also sentenced Atiq to rigorous life imprisonment in the abduction case of now-deceased Umesh Pal.

On Sunday, Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were buried in their ancestral village amid tight security. Ahmad’s son Asad, an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case who fell to police bullets, was buried at the same graveyard on Saturday. Ahmad was laid to rest right next to his son’s grave. The graveyard is located in Ahmad’s ancestral village and his parents were also buried there.