Video Evidence Shows Accused in Atiq Ahmed’s Murder Raised Religious Slogans

Several media reports and videos are available showing the assailants chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans.

Fact-Check |The accused chanted slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram' after the assassination of Atiq Ahmed and his brother.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

(Trigger Warning: Disturbing visuals/Description of violence)

After Mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj in front of media and police personnel, footage showing the accused chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans were going viral.

What are users claiming?: People on social media are claiming that the slogans were not chanted and that the videos being circulated are fake.

An archive of the post can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: The viral claim is false. According to several videos uploaded by several media outlets of the incident, we found that the accused chanted slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram'.

What led us to the truth?: The Quint's Piyush Rai had posted a video on his official Twitter handle where the accused could be heard chanting the slogans after the shooting ends.

• In the video, Atiq and Ashraf could be seen talking to the media personnel when one suspect shoots the former at point blank range.

• Soon after, several rounds of bullets are fired, and the brothers could be seen lying on the ground.

• Towards the end, the suspects could be heard chanting slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram'.

• The caption also mentioned that the accused were allegedly disguised as media personnel.

News reports: A keyword search led us to a report published on Hindustan Times. Its headline said, "Atiq Ahmad's killers shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’; identified: What we know."

The report was published on 16 April.

(Source: Hindustan Times/Screenshot)

• We found a similar video uploaded on the media organisation's official YouTube channel, where the slogans could be clearly heard.

• Live Hindustan also put a similar video on their official YouTube channel with a caption mentioning that the accused shot at the brother and chanted 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans.

• News18 Uttar Pradesh, on its Facebook page, uploaded a live recording incident where the same slogans can be heard right after the shooting stops.

Statements of live witness on the incident: A video posted on News Tak's official Twitter handle shows several people talking about the incident.

• At around the1:10 mark of the video, one person could be heard saying that the accused was shooting while chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans.

Apart from this, The Quint spoke to a live witness named Shareef Ahmad who narrated the entire incident in a sequential manner. To know the full details, watch the video below.

Conclusion: The claim about the assailants not chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans after the shooting is false. Several news reports and videos are available to prove the same.

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