A former Indian legislator convicted of kidnapping and facing murder and assault charges was shot dead along with his brother in a dramatic attack that was caught live on TV in northern India. Uttar Pradesh is governed by India’s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party. “They managed to reach close to Atiq and his brother on the pretext of recording a byte and fired at them from close range. Atiq Ahmad, 60, was jailed in 2019 after he was convicted of kidnapping a lawyer, Umesh Pal, who had given evidence against him as a witness in the killing of a legislator in 2005. He faced more than 100 criminal cases and was among the first politicians from Uttar Pradesh to be prosecuted under the stringent Gangster Act in the late 1980s.

Source: Irish Examiner April 16, 2023 22:33 UTC