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Balrampur murder: HC Lucknow bench rejects bail plea of ex-MP Rizwan Zaheer
Zaheer was allegedly involved in murder of his political rival Firoz Ahmad alias Pappu in January this year
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has rejected bail application of former MP from Balrampur district Rizwan Zaheer who was allegedly involved in murder of his political rival Firoz Ahmad alias Pappu in January this year.
A single judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh on July 7 observed: “It is not in dispute that the deceased (Firoz Ahmad) was trying to get ticket from Samajwadi Party for assembly elections of 2022 from Tulsipur Constituency.”
“The accused-applicant (Rizwan Zaheer) was trying to get ticket from the same constituency from the Samajwadi Party for his daughter, co-accused, Zeba Rizwan. The role of accused-applicant has come to light during the course of investigation and the charge sheet has been filed against him and other co-accused,” the court said.
“As per the prosecution story, the accused-applicant is the prime architect of the offence to remove his political opponent from the scene. He is a “bahubali” with long record of heinous offences registered against him,” the court added.
“Considering heinousness of the crime, impact on the society, influence and might of the present accused-applicant, his past record of heinous offences and without commenting on the merits of the case, this court does not find that it is a fit case to enlarge the accused-applicant on bail at this stage,” the court observed. “The bail application is accordingly rejected,” the court said.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court had granted bail to Zeba Rizwan, who was also arrested in this case, in May this year. Firoz Ahmad, former nagar panchayat chairman, Balrampur, was murdered on January 4, 2022 in Balrampur. In the murder case, cops had named three main accused, including Rizwan Zaheer, his daughter Zeba Rizwan and son-in-law Rameez Khan.
