Who is gangster Sundar Bhati, the alleged mastermind in mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's murder

Feared gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf was shot dead in police custody by three gunmen on April 15.

Sundar Bhati, a convicted don, has now been named in connection with the murders of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf. According to sources, Sundar Bhati directed the delivery of the Zigana handguns to the murders of Atiq and Ashraf. 

It should be mentioned that the Zigana pistol, which arrived in India via Pakistan, was used in the assassination of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf. According to certain accounts, Sundar Bhati is the mastermind behind the murders of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf.

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One of the three killers, Rohit alias Sunny, is from Hamirpur. In Kuraira police station, 14 charges have been filed against him. In 2019, he was incarcerated in Hamirpur Jail alongside Sunder Bhati. 

He has been in contact with Sunder Bhati since then. According to sources, the Zigana gun was sent to the assassins of Atiq Ahmed at the request of a renowned don in western Uttar Pradesh.

Sundar Bhati is the subject of 62 criminal prosecutions. In the Harendra Pradhan murder case, he was recently sentenced to life in jail by the Gautam Budh Nagar District Court. He has been imprisoned since then. Sundar is now being held at the Sonbhadra district prison.

Sundar Bhati used to work as a transporter in Bulandshahr before getting into crime. He then made contact with the leaders and began performing political killings. Although Sundar Bhati planned to enter politics, Naresh Bhati became the District Panchayat Chairman in the meantime. Sunder and Naresh were formerly friends until Sundar murdered Naresh Bhati. Sundar did not look back after that, and he continued to murder people for money.

Members of the Sundar Bhati gang are involved in extortion and contract murders and are accused of murdering multiple people in Purvanchal.

On November 18, 2011, Sundar Bhati, who had travelled to attend his brother-in-law's wedding, was assaulted in a banquet hall in Ghaziabad by Naresh Bhati's nephew Amit, who was still in the throes of his maternal uncle's murder. 

Sundar escaped the Amit Kasana gang's attack, but three others were slain. Sundar Bhati, who had been missing for a long time, was eventually apprehended by the UP Police from Noida in 2014. He has been imprisoned in UP prisons since then. Sundar was convicted of life in prison in a murder case on April 6, 2021. He is now imprisoned at Sonbhadra Jail.