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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Apart from the three shooters, police have also booked two unidentified persons.
LUCKNOW: Lavlesh Tiwari, Arun Maurya, and Sunny Singh – the three young men who shot dead the dreaded UP mafia Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in the presence of policemen and media cameras in Prayagraj – share a criminal history, and at least one of them is a designated history-sheeter.
Posing as journalists, they hid among media persons who were recording the jailed brothers’ interview while they were being taken by the police for a medical examination and shot them from point-blank range on Saturday night. The three, along with two unidentified accused, have been booked by the UP Police.
None of the shooters is a resident of Prayagraj. While Lavlesh is a native of Banda district, Sunny hails from Hamirpur, and Arun Maurya is a resident of Kasganj. However, the trio share a common theme: they have virtually abandoned their families and have a criminal past.
According to Lavlesh’s father, Yagya Tiwari, the young man – who describes himself as a Brahmin “who carries arms, not Shashtras” – has been to prison for slapping a girl in a crowded market some years back.
“The family meant nothing to him. He would come home whenever he pleased and left after having a bath and food. He is facing a case for slapping a girl,” said his father as his eyes welled up.
His younger brother, Ved Kumar Tiwari, said he last visited their home around a week back, and the family had no update about his whereabouts since then.
On Facebook, Lavlesh describes himself as a district-level office-bearer of Bajrag Dal, a sister organization of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
His mother, Asha Devi, weeping inconsolably, told media persons: “He is a devout bhakt of Lord Hanuman and Lord Shiva. He would visit the Hanuman temple and offer his services there daily.”
His accomplice, Sunny Singh, a resident of Kurara town in Hamirpur district, is a designated history-sheeter with at least 14 serious criminal cases registered against him. Many of the cases are registered under the narcotics act, arms act, and gangster act.
According to locals, Sunny has not been spotted in the town for the last ten years. “He has been involved in loot, gambling, and firing at public places. He has also been involved in an encounter with the police,” said a local.
Another local said that Sunny was a “good boy” in his childhood but got into crime after he was sent to jail.
The third killer, Arun Maurya, alias Kalia, is a resident of the Soro area of Kasganj district in western Uttar Pradesh. Born into an economically poor family, his two brothers work as daily wage laborers in Soro.
According to locals, Arun has been living out of the town for the last six years since the murder of a cop of the Government Railway Police (GRP). Arun lost his parents around 15 years back and is illiterate, according to his aunt.
