Moment former politician Atiq Ahmed & brother are shot dead live on TV during interview after gunmen posed as reporters

THIS is the shocking moment a gangster-turned-politician was shot dead live on TV by gunmen posing as journalists.

Former Indian MP Atiq Ahmed, convicted of kidnapping, and his brother were gunned down as police escorted them in handcuffs for a medical check-up in Uttar Pradesh.

As they walked, the pair were surrounded by camera crews when the attackers opened fire and killed them on Saturday.

Dramatic footage of the brothers being killed was shared across broadcast channels and social media.

A gunman is seen reaching over the shoulders of police to point a pistol at Ahmed's head.

His turban is then blown off as the gun discharges and he collapses.

The former lawmaker's brother, Ashraf Ahmed, was then also shot and the two victims died within minutes.

Cops quickly detained three male suspects and arrested them.

Police say the assailants had been posing as journalists.

One surrendered immediately after the shooting, while officers caught the other two suspects.

The trio have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

They had been among a crowd that had gathered as the two brothers, allegedly kingpins in a local criminal organisation, were being brought, handcuffed from a hospital in Prayagraj city.

After shooting the brothers, the suspected gunmen shouted Hindu religious chants.

A post-mortem revealed Ahmed was shot eight times, with wounds on his head, neck and chest.

One policeman was also hurt during the attack.

Fearing the possibility of violent unrest in the wake of the killings, the Uttar Pradesh government barred gatherings of more than four people across the entire state.

A senior police official said: "The state government imposed restrictive orders after the killings of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed who were members of a large mafia involved in land grabbing and in murder cases."

The state government, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party, has ordered a judicial probe into the killings.

Ahmed, 60, had more than 100 criminal cases registered against him.

He was jailed in 2019 after he was convicted of kidnapping a lawyer, Umesh Pal, who had testified against him as a witness in the killing of a lawmaker in 2005.

In February, Pal was also killed.

Last week police shot dead Ahmed's son in Jhansi city.

He had been wanted in connection to a murder case that was being investigated as part of a wider crackdown into a land mafia operating in Uttar Pradesh.

Police in Uttar Pradesh have killed more than 180 suspected criminals during encounters over past six years.

The head of the opposition Samajwadi Party, said the killing of his ex-party member while in police custody demonstrated the failure of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to bring law and order to Uttar Pradesh.

"When someone can be killed in firing openly amidst the security cordon of the police, then what about the safety of the general public."

Before losing an election in 2014, Ahmed had been a lawmaker with Samajwadi, and later the regional Apna Dal party.