Atiq Ahmed Murder: Who is Atiq Ahmed?

On the night of 15 April, gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj while they were being taken for a court-mandated check-up. 

Soon after the attack, the shooters were arrested. The incident occurred while Ahmed was under police escort, and three men posing as journalists quickly surrendered and were taken into custody after the shots were fired on Saturday night. Ahmed's teenage son had been shot dead by police a few days earlier. Ahmed had previously claimed that there was a threat to his life from the police. Dozens of cases, including kidnapping, murder, and extortion, were registered against him over the past two decades, and he was sentenced to life in jail in March this year in a kidnapping case. Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were both in handcuffs when they were shot, and a policeman and a journalist were also injured at the scene. Following the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a judicial probe into the killings and banned large gatherings in the districts of Uttar Pradesh state to ensure peace. Experts have raised questions about how a man could be killed in front of the media and the police.

Who is Atiq Ahmed?

Family Background

Atiq Ahmed was born on 10 August 1962 to a Muslim Gaddi family from Kasari Masari village on the outskirts of Allahabad (now Prayagraj). His family was traditionally involved in cattle-rearing and the sale of milk. Atiq's father, Haji Firoz Ahmed, used to ride a tonga or horse carriage. The family eventually settled near the Chakia area of Allahabad, which later became Atiq's criminal stronghold.

Journey towards crime

Atiq Ahmed had a long and controversial career in both politics and the criminal world. In 1979, a murder case was lodged against him in the Khuldabad police station of Allahabad, the first among over 100 criminal cases. In the 1980s, he worked with several local gangsters, the most prominent being Shok-e-Ilahi alias Chand Baba. Though a notorious gangster, Chand Baba had a Robin Hood-like image among some people and enjoyed political patronage. But by then, Atiq had begun amassing enormous wealth after getting a contract to sell railway scrap. He too developed political ambitions and this put him on a collision course with Chand Baba. 

Political Career and downfall

He won his first election as an independent candidate and became a state lawmaker in 1989, winning the seat for two consecutive terms. He later won another election as a lawmaker from the regional Samajwadi party (SP) and went on to win a seat in the federal election in 2004 as an SP candidate, becoming an MP. However, throughout his political career, cases continued to be filed against him in Allahabad and other parts of the state. He contested a few more elections in the following decade but lost them all. In 2019, India's top court ordered that he be moved to a jail in Gujarat state after it was discovered that he planned attacks on a businessman from a prison in Uttar Pradesh where he was being held awaiting trial in another case. He was brought back to Prayagraj in March from Gujarat to appear in a local court where he was sentenced in a kidnapping case. Ahmed was also brought to the city to be questioned in other cases, and his brother Ashraf, who was in jail in Bareilly district, was also brought to the city for questioning.