LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav on Sunday blamed the media for making a 'gangster' out of Atiq Ahmed.
Yadav admitted that Atiq had several cases against him. But none of the charges against him was proven and he was not proven guilty by a court of law.
"The media made him a gangster. There are cases where influential men, occupying high positions kill people. But no one terms them as gangsters", Ram Gopal Yadav told media persons in his native Safai village in Etawah district.
He also added that "so many fake cases are filed against people day in and day out...Atiq Ahmed became MLA in 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1995, and an MP from Phulpur in 2004. It's not that all goons wins elections. He won for a record three times as an independent candidate."
Yadav claimed that the killing of Atiq and his brother Ashraf was an organised murder. Recalling the UP CM’s statement in the Assembly that the killers of Umesh Pal and gangsters would
be decimated, Yadav said that the killers of Atiq and Ashraf will not face punishment.
Yadav said that his fears for the life of Atiq's son came true on Thursday last when Asad was killed in a ‘fake encounter’ in Jhansi.
On the other, BSP chief Mayawati called the killing of Atiq Ahmed in police custody as heinous as that of Umesh Pal’s killing. Raising serious questions over the style of functioning of the Uttar Pradesh Government, she said it would be better if the Supreme Court took cognisance of the "extremely serious and worrisome" incident, which was being discussed across the country.
In a series of tweets, she said, "Now, instead of 'rule of law by law' in Uttar Pradesh, how appropriate is it that it becomes 'encounter Pradesh'? Something to think about."
Meanwhile, reacting to the killing, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the law of the country was paramount and the criminals should be given the harshest punishment within the ambit of law.
In a series of tweets in Hindi, the Congress leader said that criminals should be given the harshest punishment, but it should be according to the law of the land. Playing with or violating the rule of law and the judicial process for any political purpose was not right for democracy.
"Whoever does this, or gives protection to those who indulge in such an act, should also be held responsible and the law should be strictly enforced on that person," Gandhi said.