Atiq Ahmed: Former Indian MP and brother shot dead live on TV

A former Indian politician convicted of kidnapping has been shot dead live on TV along with his brother.

Atiq Ahmed, who was under police escort, was talking to reporters when a gun was pulled close to his head in Prayagraj, also known as Allahabad.

After the shots were fired on Saturday night, three men who had been posing as journalists quickly surrendered and were taken into custody.

Ahmed’s teenage son was shot dead by police days earlier.

Dozens of cases, including kidnapping, murder and extortion, were registered against Atiq Ahmed over the past two decades. A local court sentenced him and two others to life in jail in March this year in a kidnapping case.

Ahmed had previously claimed there was a threat to his own life from the police.

Video showed Ahmed and his brother, Ashraf, both in handcuffs, speaking to journalists on the way to a medical check-up at a hospital seconds before they were both shot.

Who’s he?

He had a long stint both in politics and with the criminal world. He was first accused in a murder case in 1979. In the next 10 years, he emerged as a person who had strong influence in the western part of Allahabad city.

Last month India’s Supreme Court declined to hear Ahmed’s petition in which he alleged there was a threat to his life from the police. BBC