ISLAMABAD
\nA former Indian lawmaker 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, officials said Sunday.
\nAtiq Ahmad and his brother, Ashraf Ahmad, were under police escort on their way to a medical checkup at a hospital on Saturday night when three men posing as journalists targeted the two brothers from close range in Prayagraj city in Uttar Pradesh state.
\nThe men quickly surrendered to the police after the shooting, with at least one of them chanting \u201cJai Shri Ram\u201d or \u201cHail Lord Ram,\u201d a slogan that has become a battle cry for Hindu nationalists in their campaign against Muslims.
\nUttar Pradesh is governed by India\u2019s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party.
\nPolice officer Ramit Sharma said the three assailants came on motorcycles posing as journalists.
\n\u201cThey managed to reach close to Atiq and his brother on the pretext of recording a byte and fired at them from close range. Both sustained bullet injuries on the head,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt all happened in seconds,\u201d Sharma said.
\nOn Thursday, Atiq Ahmad\u2019s teenage son and another man, who had both been blamed for a recent murder, were killed by police in what was described as a shootout.
\nAtiq Ahmad, 60, was jailed in 2019 after he was convicted of kidnapping. He was a local lawmaker four times and was also elected to India\u2019s parliament in 2004.
\nHis lawyer, Vijay Mishra, said the incident was shocking as \u201cit is a clear failure of the police in ensuring the safety\u201d of his clients.
\nOpposition parties criticized the killings as a security lapse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD A former Indian lawmaker 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, officials said Sunday. Atiq Ahmad and his brother, Ashraf Ahmad, were under police escort on their way to a medical checkup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-326305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n