Indian politician and his brother shot dead on TV

A controversial former Indian politician was shot dead on live TV.

The BBC reports that Atiq Ahmed, who was previously convicted of kidnapping and linked to both political circles and the criminal world, was being questioned by reporters when a gun was held to his head and the trigger was pulled. Ahmed’s brother Ashram, who was sitting next to him, was also shot dead on Saturday night.

Immediately after the shots were fired and wreaked havoc in the town of Prayagraj (also known as Allahabad), three men posing as journalists surrendered to police custody. A police officer and a journalist were also injured at the scene.

Video footage of the event shows Ahmed and his brother, both handcuffed by police, talking 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 abroad, Ahmed is asked if he attended the funeral of his son, who was shot dead by the police three days earlier.

His last words to the camera were: “They didn’t take us, so we didn’t go.”

An inquest was ordered to investigate how both men could be killed in public, in front of the media and the police. The BBC’s Hindi correspondent reported that the city was locked down while investigations continued.

Ahmed was serving a life sentence following his kidnapping conviction earlier this year. He previously faced dozens of charges of kidnapping, murder and extortion.