Samajwadi Party MP Shafiq-ur-Rehman Barq on Sunday hit back at Uttar Pradesh minister Dharampal Singh over his remarks that the opposition got Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf killed, saying the murder did not happen "without the government's intention".
Speaking to reporters here, the Sambhal MP said, "The entire country knows how the murder took place and who got it done. They (Atiq and Ashraf) were in police custody. It was their (government's) responsibility, and it did not happen without their (government's) intention. They are trying to hide it, and on the contrary, blaming the opposition."
Barq, 92, said that the court could have given Atiq Ahmad capital punishment or any other punishment. "We would not have any objections. But, this time, the duo (Atiq and Ashraf) have not been killed without their (government's) signal."
UP minister Singh on Saturday alleged that the opposition parties got gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf killed, fearing that the duo would reveal their secrets.
Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad (60) and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists on the night of April 15 while police personnel was escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a check-up.
They were brought to Prayagraj from Gujarat and Bareilly prisons for interrogation in connection with the killing of Umesh Pal and his two police security guards earlier this year.
"The truth is that the opposition is involved in getting Atiq killed. Some serious secrets were about to be revealed, that's why the opposition got him murdered," Singh, the state animal husbandry and dairy development minister, had said.
The three assailants of Ahmad were arrested by the police after the murder. The UP government has constituted a three-member judicial commission to probe the matter.
Sambhal district will go to polls in the first phase of the urban local body elections, where voting will be held on May 4.
