Crude bomb explodes near Atiq's lawyer's residence in Prayagraj

Crude bombs were hurled in a bylane near the residence of one of the lawyers of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad on Tuesday.

There are no reports of any casualty in the explosion that occurred at around 2.30 pm in Katra locality of Prayagraj.

Ram Mohan Rai, station house officer (SHO), Colonelganj police station, said Atiq's lawyer Dayashankar Mishra was not the target and the incident was a fallout of personal enmity between two youths. However, the lawyer claimed that it was an effort to intimidate him for representing Atiq and Ashraf.

“I don't want to wrongfully name anyone. But I have doubts that this drama has been staged to scare me”, Mishra told reporters.

Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were gunned down at point blank range while being taken for a medical test last Saturday. While Atiq received nine bullets in his head and chest, his brother Ashraf was shot five times.

On Tuesday, Atiq's another lawyer Vijay Mishra claimed that a letter written by the gangster and enclosed in a sealed envelope is on its way to reach the Chief Justice of India and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

“That letter in a sealed envelope is neither with me nor sent by me. It is kept somewhere else and being sent by some other person”, he had said.

This comes a day after Mishra had said Ashraf claimed to have been threatened by a senior police official that he and his elder brother would be taken out of the jail and eliminated.

The Uttar Pradesh government has set up a three-member judicial commission led by a retired Allahabad high court judge to probe the killing. The panel will submit its report in the next two months.