Atiq Ahmed LIVE Updates: Mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed shot dead, moment caught on camera

Mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed shot dead while being taken for medical in Prayagraj.

"Crime has reached its peak in UP and the morale of the criminals is high. When someone can be killed by firing openly amidst the security cordon of the police, then what about the safety of the general public. Due to this, an atmosphere of fear is being created among the public, it seems that some people are deliberately creating such an atmosphere.", Akhilesh yadav tweeted in Hindi.

The suspects have been identified as Luvlesh Tiwari, Sunny and Arun Maurya

All the three shooters have been kept in three different police stations of the city.

Alert has been sounded across UP: Special DG, law and order, Prashant Kumar

“CM has also appealed to people not to pay any attention to rumours. Strict action will be taken against those who spread rumours," the official statement mentioned.

Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday said that shooters who killed mafia turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on Saturday night were posing as Journalists at the spot of the incident. "Shooters were posing as journalists. As Atiq reached for a check-up, they were surrounded by other journalists and got close to Atiq and his brother. One was having a camera and was posing as a cameraman. While one was roaming with a mike where it was written NCR News. Third was assisting both," police sources said.

The three assailants, who killed gangster Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, belong to three different districts in Uttar Pradesh. Lovlesh Tiwari belongs to Banda, Sunny Singh belongs to Hamirpur and Arun Maurya lives in Kasganj. Surprisingly, the families of all three men have disowned the assailants and said that they had already left their homes much before the incident. All three have been booked and jailed for petty crimes in the past. What is intriguing to the police is the fact that they have no answer for their motive for killing the two brothers.

After gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Prayagraj in full media glare on Saturday night, the father of one of the assailants on Sunday said his son was jobless and a drug addict. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Yagya Tiwari (father of Lovelesh, one of the arrested shooters) said, "He is my son. We saw the incident on TV. We are not aware of the actions of Lovelesh nor do we have anything to do with this. He never lived here and neither was he involved in our family affairs. He did not tell us anything. He came here five to six days ago. We have not been on talking terms with him for years. There is already a case registered against him. He was jailed in that case."

The three assailants, who were arrested after shooting dead gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj, confessed to their crime on Sunday, adding that they did it to "become popular". Days after Atiq Ahmad's son, Asad, was killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi, the ganglord-turned-politician and his brother were killed on Saturday while being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj.

On the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to prepare Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the safety of journalists in the wake of three assailants, posing as mediapersons, killing gangster Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, sources said. The MHA, under the leadership of the prime minister and guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will prepare the SOPs for the safety and security of journalists, they said.

Three member judicial commission formed to probe murder of don Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf will be headed by retired Justice Arvind Tripathi-II. The other members are retired DG Subesh Kumar Singh and Retired Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni. The commission will give its report in two months.

Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad, who was shot dead along with his brother at point-blank range, had admitted during questioning by police that he had links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to an FIR. Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were killed by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night

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. The graveyard is located in Ahmad's ancestral village and his parents were also laid to rest there. There was heavy police presence at the graveyard and only a few distant relatives of the deceased brothers and locals were present inside the burial ground.