Asad Ahmad buried in Prayagraj amid watertight security

The last rites of Asad Ahmad, the son of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, were performed at Kasari Masari graveyard in Prayagraj on Saturday amid heavy police security, with few distant relatives and locals allowed inside the burial ground. The burial lasted for an hour, police said. "The last rites of Asad Ahmad have been completed, and it went for an hour. A few distant relatives of Atiq and some people of the locality were allowed to go to the graveyard. This was necessary from the security point of view," Joint Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj, Akash Kulhari told PTI.

Earlier, Asad's uncle, Usman, reached the graveyard with the body of his nephew.

Media was strictly restricted from entering the heavily guarded graveyard.

Atiq had on Friday sought permission from a magistrate to attend the funeral of his son. His lawyer Manish Khanna had told PTI that since Friday was a holiday on account of Ambedkar Jayanti, the request had been sent to the remand magistrate.

However, the burial took place before Atiq's application could be presented in the court of chief judicial magistrate on Saturday.

Asad and his accomplice Ghulam, both wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, were shot dead in an exchange of fire with the Uttar Pradesh Police near Jhansi on Thursday.

Asad was the third of five sons of Atiq Ahmad and was absconding since the Umesh Pal murder case.

Among other sons of Atiq, the eldest son Umar is lodged in Lucknow jail, while the second son Ali is lodged in Naini Central Jail in separate cases. The fourth son Ahjam and the youngest son Aban are housed in a juvenile home in Prayagraj.

Atiq's parents' remains are also buried in the same graveyard (Kasari Masari), according to Janu Khan, who claimed to have dug the grave of Asad.  Atiq is presently serving life imprisonment in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case.