Atiq Ahmed killing: Assailants wanted to make a name for themselves by eliminating gang

The killers told cops they knew that they would not be able to escape after killing Atiq and Ashraf

The three assailants who shot dead UP gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on camera and in front of scores of cops perpetrated the crime as they wanted to become ''notorious criminals'' and ''mafia dons''.

The assailants, identified as Luvlesh Tewari, Sunny Singh and Arun Kumar Maurya, all residents of different districts of Uttar Pradesh, who were arrested on the spot, told the police that they wanted to finish the Atiq Gang and form their own and become a bigger mafia.

''How long will we remain petty criminals?...We wanted to get famous.....this incident will bear us good results in the future,'' one of the assailants told the cops during interrogation, according to the sources.

Police said that the assailants had planned the murders of Atiq and Ashraf in advance and had checked in at a hotel in Prayagraj town two days before the killings. They also told the police that they knew that they would not be able to escape after perpetrating the crime.

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One of the assailants, Sunny Singh, faced 15 criminal cases and had also been sent to jail on some occasions. Sources said that Sunny had met dreaded western UP gangster Sunder Bhati in the Hamirpur jail and had been provided with a pistol.

The families of the three assailants said that they were shocked after they came to know that the trio had killed Ateeq and Ashraf.

Officials said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has formed a three-member judicial commission to probe the killing of Atiq and his brother.