Prayagraj: Lovelesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh, and Arun Maurya, the three assailants who gunned down mafia politician Atiq Ahmad and his youthful brother Khalid Azeem a.ok.a Ashraf right here on April 15, had come to Lucknow earlier than reaching Prayagraj by bus to hold out the killings. The three revealed this throughout interrogation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). However, they didn’t disclose the explanation for his or her go to to Lucknow.
After reaching the Prayagraj bus stand, that they had roamed round after which on April 13, taken a room at a resort close to Khuldabad police station the place that they had saved watching tv, accumulating details about Atiq`s actions in police custody, officers mentioned. Efforts had been nonetheless on to seek out if the trio had native assist, officers added.
It could also be recalled that on April 15 night time, Atiq and Ashraf had been gunned down by the three assailants at Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital right here. The accused — Banda resident Lovelesh Tiwari, 22, Hamirpur resident Sunny Singh, 23, and Kasganj resident Arun Maurya, 18 — had been arrested by police on the spot after surrendering.
Officials investigating the case and questioning the accused mentioned that the three assailants had visited the Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital on April 14, a day earlier than the murders, additionally. They had returned to the resort after finishing up a reconnaissance of the hospital premises. On April 15, that they had reached the hospital individually in battery-operated e-rickshaws to keep away from suspicion, the officers mentioned.
The trio had assembled contained in the hospital earlier than the police reached the spot with Atiq and Ashraf and shot them when the duo was being taken contained in the hospital on foot for medical examination, the officers mentioned.
Investigators scanned footage of over 40 CCTV cameras put in within the neighborhood of the hospital to observe the motion of the assailants from the resort to the hospital to establish if there have been others serving to them. No different suspects have been recognized until now, officers additional mentioned. The SIT additionally inspected room quantity 203 of the resort the place the assailants had stayed.
The resort falls below the jurisdiction of Khuldabad police station and is positioned reverse the town facet of the Prayagraj Junction railway station. Officials seized the resort register, CCTV footage, and DVR (digital video recorder) and sealed the room. Police additionally recovered two cell phones from the resort room which had been with out SIM playing cards.
Hotel supervisor Akhilesh Singh knowledgeable the police that the three assailants had booked the rooms and submitted their identification paperwork as per the foundations. It was solely when police reached the resort that the employees got here to know that they had been concerned within the assault on Atiq and Ashraf. The supervisor didn’t disclose extra particulars and claimed that every one data had been supplied to the police.
SIT officers mentioned one of many assailants, Lovelesh Tiwari, had come to Prayagraj throughout Kumbh-2019, however the different two visited the town for the primary time this month to kill Atiq and Ashraf. The two cell phones recovered on the premise of their inputs from the resort room had been being utilized by Lovelesh and Arun.
However, Mohit a.ok.a Sunny Singh, who has a previous historical past of committing critical crimes, was not utilizing any cell phone to keep away from being detected. No suspicious cellular quantity had been recognized after scanning their name particulars. The assailants often made calls to their kin a number of days in the past, officers claimed.
