Days after gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad was killed in an audacious attack in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, the state’s CM Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said no mafia or criminal can threaten industrialists anymore in UP.
Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf was killed in an audacious attack by three shooters who posed as journalists when they were being taken to a Prayagraj hospital for a medical check up. The incident raised questions over the prevalent law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
"Now, a professional criminal or a mafia cannot threaten an industrialist over the phone," Adityanath was quoted in NDTV report.
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"Uttar Pradesh was notorious for riots. Just the names of many districts scared people. Now there is no need to be scared," the report quoted Adityanath as having said.
Adityanath said the state witnessed over than 700 riots between 2012 and 2017, the report said.
"But not a single riot broke out in UP between 2017 and 2023, no curfew was imposed. That situation did not arise. And this is the most conducive opportunity to invest and set up industries," the report quoted Adityanath as having said.
It mentioned Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh now "guarantees effective law and order arrangements".
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Main opposition Samajwadi Party has hit out at the state government over the murders that took place on live TV as Atiq was addressing the press.
"Crime has reached its peak in UP and the morale of the criminals is high. When someone can be killed openly despite being surrounded by a security cordon, one can imagine the state of the general public. Due to this (alleged encounter killings), an ambience of fear is being created among the public. It seems that some people are deliberately creating such an ambience," Akhilesh Yadav, Leader of Opposition in Assembly and chief of Samajwadi Party, tweeted.
Amid the criticism, the state government has ordered a high-level probe into the murders. UP police, too, have formed a three-member Special Investigation Team to look into the incident.
The matter has also reached the Supreme Court. The court today decided to hear a petition seeking an independent probe into the killings of the gangster and his brother. The petitioner has also urged the court to look into the growing trend of encounter killings by UP police. "Such actions by police are a severe threat to democracy and rule of law and lead to a police state," the petition has stated.
