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Politics and a murder mystery

The gunning down of a gangster-politician and his brother in Uttar Pradesh has focused attention on so-called police encounters and rising BJP star Yogi Adityanath’s “tough on crime” policy.

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Gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed (left) and his brother were shot dead live on TV by gunmen posing as journalists.

Gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed (left) and his brother were shot dead live on TV by gunmen posing as journalists.

PHOTOS: EPA-EFE

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In a province notoriously well supplied with baddies, Atiq Ahmed was a particularly malevolent figure.

With some 140 police cases against him, ranging from homicide to extortion, and most recently for the rub-out of an eyewitness to the murder of a state legislator in which he allegedly was involved, the 60-year-old, whose criminal record in Uttar Pradesh state stretches back to when he was just 17, was not someone most people would mourn.

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