In a murder that was seen on live television on Saturday, a former legislator in India’s parliament who had been convicted of kidnapping was shot dead with his brother while police were accompanying them for a medical checkup.
Intense video of the men being slain was carried on television and posted on social media. Atiq Ahmed, a former politician, has his turban blown off as a shooter is seen reaching over police shoulders to put a weapon at his temple.
After his brother Ashraf Ahmed was shot, the two victims died shortly after, and police immediately captured three men they believed to be responsible for the murder.
Media reports say the assailants had been posing as journalists. One surrendered immediately after the shooting, while officers subdued the other two suspects.
They had been among a crowd that had gathered as the two brothers, allegedly kingpins in a local criminal organization, were being brought, handcuffed from a hospital Prayagraj city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening.
After carrying out the slaying, the suspected gunmen shouted Hindu religious chants.
One policeman was wounded during the attack.
Fearing the possibility of violent unrest in the wake of the killings, the Uttar Pradesh government barred gatherings of more than four people across the entire state.
“The state government imposed restrictive orders after the killings of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed who were members of a large mafia involved in land grabbing and in murder cases,” said a senior police official.
“We don’t want any form of protest to gain momentum,” the official said on conditions of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak with the press.
The state government, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, has ordered a judicial probe into the killings.
Last week police shot dead Atiq Ahmed’s son in Jhansi city. He had been wanted in connection to a murder case that was being investigated as part of a wider crackdown into a land mafia operating in Uttar Pradesh.
Police in Uttar Pradesh have killed more than 180 suspected criminals during encounters over past six years.
The head of the opposition Samajwadi Party, said the slaying of his ex-party member while in police custody demonstrated the failure of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to bring law and order to Uttar Pradesh.
“When someone can be killed in firing openly amidst the security cordon of the police, then what about the safety of the general public,” said Akhilesh Yadav, chief the opposition Samajwadi Party, in a tweet.