'Now mafia can't threaten anyone,' says UP CM Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the mafia cannot threaten anyone in the state under the present BJP government. The CM's remark comes days after jailed gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were gunned down in full media glare and amid heavy police presence in Prayagraj district.

The incident followed the death of Atiq's fugitive son Asad in an exchange of fire with the UP Special Task Force (STF) in Jhansi district earlier.CM Adityanath made the statement while addressing the MoU signing programme at Textile Park in state capital Lucknow on Tuesday. Claiming that the state was infamous for riots earlier, the CM said, "Between 2012 and 2017, more than 700 riots took place in Uttar Pradesh. However, from 2017 till 2023, not a single riot has happened in UP and neither has curfew been imposed in the state."

"Earlier, the state suffered from an identity crisis. However today, criminals and mafias are in a crisis. Now gangsters and mafia cannot threaten businessmen over phone. Uttar Pradesh today promises a better law and order situation," he added.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list on April 24 the plea seeking to constitute an Independent Expert Committee under the chairmanship of a Former Supreme Court judge to inquire into the killing of Atiq and Ashraf, amid police presence.Atiq Ahmed's killers had a long connection with the crime and in their desire to become "popular", they executed the killings on April 15 while the gangster-turned-politician and his brother Ashraf were in the custody of Uttar Pradesh Police in Prayagraj, sources said on Monday.Atiq and Ashraf were killed by three assailants, who posed as mediapersons, while the gangsters were being taken for medical checkups at Prayagraj medical college.

The killers, identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lavlesh Tiwari, "wanted to become gangsters" and hatched a plot to kill Atiq, sources said earlier.

The police said they were in the process of ascertaining if someone else was also involved in the plan to kill Atiq and Ashraf. All three youths were arrested by the police at the scene of the shooting.

Atiq was shot at least eight times, with bullet injuries found in his head, neck and chest, according to preliminary results of an autopsy conducted on his body after his sensational murder caught on camera outside a hospital in Prayagraj on April 15.

Sources said on Monday three bullets pierced the body of Ashraf, Atiq's brother, during the shootout that took outside the hospital where the police had taken them for a routine medical check-up. The gangster siblings collapsed on the spot after being shot from near-point-blank range.

According to sources, the initial postmortem report said Atiq was shot 8 times while Ashraf took 5 bullets. "Of the eight bullets that Atiq took, one hit his head, one his neck, one each on his chest, stomach and waist," sources said.

Both Atiq and Ashraf were buried on April 16 at the Kasari Masari burial ground in Prayagraj. According to the initial post-mortem report, Ashraf was shot in his neck, back and waist, with the bullets piercing his body. The Uttar Pradesh government ordered a judicial probe in the wake of the killings. Uttar Pradesh Police also announced the formation of two special investigating teams (SITs) to probe the killings. 

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