"Won't receive his body"; mother of Ghulam killed in UP encounter supports action [details]

The bodies of Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and shooter Ghulam, who were killed in an encounter in Jhansi, are expected to reach Prayagraj from Jhansi late on Friday night. The graves of both the deceased have been prepared side by side in the Kasari Masari village which is the family graveyard.

Senior police officials said that the bodies were expected to reach Prayagraj late in the night and the burial will take place after that.

The family of Ghulam, one of the shooters involved in the Umesh Pal murder case, has refused to take his body.

His mother Khushnuda said that they have nothing to do with the son who tarnished the family reputation.

"I am also a mother. Umesh also had a mother. Ghulam got punished for his actions. He lowered our heads in old age. I never went outside the house in front of unknown people. He showed me this day as well. He has done wrong, for which he has been punished," she said.

Ghulam's brother Rahil Hasan said that he brought them on the road. "He is my brother, but he should have done something worthy of being a brother. He tarnished the name of our family. In such a situation, our family had already decided that in the event of an encounter, we would not go to collect the dead body of Ghulam," he said.

Ghulam Mohammad was a resident of Rasulabad under Shivkuti police station area in Prayagraj.

After Ghulam Mohammad's name surfaced in the Umesh Pal murder case, the administration claimed that his house was constructed illegally and it was demolished.

Police tried to capture duo alive

The FIR lodged soon after the encounter with Asad Ahmad, son of gangster Atiq Ahmad, and shooter Ghulam in Jhansi, says that the police tried to catch the two accused alive. The encounter took place on Thursday. 

The FIR says, "Just as we instructed our car driver to overtake the motorcycles the two accused were trying to flee in, and loudly asked them to stop, they accelerated and tried to take a turn at a side road to escape, though another team had already surrounded them."

The two were repeatedly warned but they did not stop and their motorcycles slipped and fell near a babool tree. "Asad and Ghulam took cover, started abusing the police and fired with the intent to kill," it added.

Top UP Police officials said on Friday that Asad and Ghulam, who were killed in an encounter of Thursday, had planned to attack convoy transporting dreaded gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj.

The two did not plan to attack the convoy and free Atiq Ahmad - as is being claimed by a section of media-- but to embarrass the UP government, create a sensation and prevent Atiq's frequent trips to UP.

(With inputs from IANS)