Gangster Atiq Ahmed’s son was buried in Prayagraj under watertight safeguards

Prayagraj:

The last rites of Asad Ahmad, the son of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, were performed at the Kasari Masari cemetery here on Saturday under tight police security, with only a few distant relatives and locals allowed to enter the burial ground. The funeral lasted an hour, police said.

“The final rites of Asad Ahmad were completed and it lasted an hour. A few distant relatives of Atiq and some local people were allowed to go to the cemetery. This was necessary for security reasons,” Prayagraj Joint Police Commissioner Akash Kulhari told PTI.

Earlier, Asad’s uncle Usman had reached the cemetery with his nephew’s body.

The media was strictly forbidden to enter the heavily guarded cemetery.

Atiq asked a judge for permission to attend his son’s funeral on Friday. His attorney, Manish Khanna, had told PTI that the request was sent to the coroner because Friday was a public holiday because of Ambedkar Jayanti.

However, the funeral took place before Atiq’s application could be presented to the Supreme Judicial Court on Saturday.

Asad and his accomplice Ghulam, both wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, were shot dead in a shootout with Uttar Pradesh police near Jhansi on Thursday.

Asad was the third of five sons of Atiq Ahmad and has been missing since the Umesh Pal murder case.

Among other sons of Atiq, the eldest son Umar is being held at Lucknow Prison while the second son Ali is being held at Naini Central Prison on separate cases. The fourth son Ahjam and the youngest son Aban are housed in a youth home in Prayagraj. The remains of Atiq’s parents are also buried in the same cemetery (Kasari Masari) according to Janu Khan who claimed to have dug the tomb of Asad. Atiq is currently serving a life sentence in the 2006 kidnapping case of Umesh Pal.

(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated feed.)