Indian Politician And His Brother Shot Dead On Live TV

A controversial former Indian politician has been shot dead on live TV.

The BBC reports that Atiq Ahmed, previously convicted of kidnapping and with ties to both political circles and the criminal world, was being questioned by reporters when a gun was placed close to his head and the trigger pulled. Ahmed’s brother Ashram who was alongside him was also shot dead on Saturday evening.

Straight after the shots were fired, causing chaos in the city of Prayagraj (also known as Allahabad), three men who had been posing as journalists gave themselves up to police custody. A policeman and a journalist were also injured at the scene.

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Video footage of the event showed Ahmed and his brother, both in police handcuffs, speaking to journalists in the street seconds before the double shooting.

In the footage, which has been widely viewed on social media and TV channels in India and beyond, Ahmed is asked whether he attended the funeral of his son – who had been shot by police three days earlier.

His final words to camera were: “They did not take us, so we did not go.”

A judicial probe has been ordered to investigate how both men could be killed in public, directly in front of media and the police. The BBC’s Hindi correspondent reported that the city had been placed into lockdown while investigations continued.

Ahmed was facing a life sentence in jail following his conviction earlier this year for kidnapping. He had previously faced dozens of legal cases involving kidnapping, murder and extortion.